Permuting

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The act of rearranging elements in different sequences to create unique combinations
2. The process of adjusting the order of components to produce various arrangements
3. Changing the sequence of items within a set to form new patterns

Etymology: The verb "permute" is older than it looks: it reached Middle English from Old French "permuter", which came from Latin "permūtāre", meaning to change thoroughly or exchange one thing for another. The Latin prefix "per-" suggests going through or completely, and "mūtāre" means to change, the same root behind "mutate" and "mutable". So the core idea was always change or exchange, not arrangement. The sense of rearranging a set of items in every possible order grew out of that exchange meaning. Over time, "permute" narrowed from swapping one thing for another to reordering a collection, and the mathematical sense of counting or listing every ordering of a set is what the "-ing" form in your word most often describes: a sequence of items being shuffled around.

Synonyms: rearranging, shuffling, mixing