Witnessing

How to spell witnessing

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce witnessing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does witnessing mean?

1. verbSeeing an event happen, especially so as to be able to describe or attest to it later.
2. verbFormally observing and signing a document to confirm a signature is genuine.

Witnessing in a sentence

• After witnessing the collision, she gave a statement to the police.

• The solicitor was responsible for witnessing the signing of the will.

• The region is witnessing rapid growth in housing demand this year.

• Two neighbours took turns witnessing the contract before it was filed.

Where does witnessing come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The word goes back to the Old English 'witnes', which meant 'knowledge', 'attestation', or 'testimony', built from the verb 'witan', meaning 'to know', plus the noun-forming suffix '-nes'. The same 'witan' root sits behind the old verb 'to wit' (meaning 'to know') and the noun 'wit', so a witness was originally someone who possessed knowledge of an event and could swear to it. Over time the noun came to mean the person who gives testimony, and a matching verb developed for the act of seeing or attesting to something. The form 'witnessing' is simply that verb carrying the '-ing' ending, used either as a present participle or as a gerund naming the act itself. The spelling keeps the doubled 's' of '-ness' while the root holds only a single 't', which is the small trap when writing it out.

How the word is built

• wit (knowledge)
• -ness (state/noun-forming suffix)
• -ing (present participle / gerund suffix)