Present participle of inform; the act of giving information or knowledge to someone.
From Latin 'informare' meaning 'to shape, form, train, instruct'. The word originally carried the sense of giving form or shape to the mind through knowledge.
The original Latin meaning of 'informing' as 'giving shape' reveals how ancient people understood learning - not as filling an empty vessel, but as molding and shaping the mind itself. This concept anticipates modern educational theories about active learning and knowledge construction.
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