Present participle of affect; influencing or making changes to something. Can also mean touching emotionally or moving someone's feelings.
From Latin afficere meaning 'to do something to, act upon,' from ad- 'to' plus facere 'to do.' The emotional sense developed from the idea of being acted upon by external forces.
The dual meaning of 'affecting' - both influencing and emotionally moving - reflects how our language recognizes that all meaningful change involves both external action and internal response. Impact and emotion are linguistically inseparable.
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