Protecting

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /pɹəˈtɛktɪŋ/

Definitions

1. Keeping someone or something safe from injury, damage, or danger
2. Shielding a person, object, or place to prevent harm or risk
3. Guarding or defending against threats to ensure safety

Etymology: "Protecting" is the present participle of "protect," so its history is really the history of the verb. That verb reaches English from Latin "prōtegere," built from "prō" meaning "before" or "in front of" and "tegere" meaning "to cover." The sense was literally to cover something in front of it, so a protector was originally one who covers the front of a thing. English had its own word for this idea before the Latin one arrived. Old English "sċildan" meant "to shield," and it survived in Middle English as "shelden" for a good while. The Latin borrowing, first recorded in English around 1530, gradually displaced it, leaving the older verb with little more than traces. The word "shield" itself, from the same Old English root, still keeps the older physical sense alive.

Synonyms: guarding, safeguarding, shielding, defending, preserving

Antonyms: attacking, endangering, exposing, neglecting, abandoning