-ing

See also ing, ing-, -ing-, Ing, and Ing.

English

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• (slang): -in’, -in

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɪŋ/, X-SAMPA: /IN/ (standard)
• IPA: /ɪn/, X-SAMPA: /In/ (colloquial)
• (US, Canada) Homophone: een (some dialects)
• (UK, Australia) Homophone: ink (some dialects)

Usage notes

Approximately 60% of English speakers pronounce gerund -ing (etymology 1) differently from participial -ing (etymology 2). In such cases, the gerund form is pronounced /ɪŋ/, and the participial form is pronounced /ɪn/ or /iːn/. This actually reflects the older etymology of the two forms, as the participial form originally did not have a g, so these speakers are not actually "dropping the g" in the historic sense.

Etymology 1

From Middle English -ing, from Old English -ing, -ung (“-ing”, suffix forming nouns from verbs), from Proto-Germanic *-ingō, *-ungō, from Proto-Indo-European *-enkw-. Cognate with West Frisian -ing (“-ing”), Dutch -ing (“-ing”), Low German -ing (“-ing”), German -ung (“-ing”), Swedish -ing (“-ing”), Icelandic -ing (“-ing”).

Suffix

-ing

1. Used to form gerunds, a type of verbal nouns, from verbs.

   the making of the film

2. Used to form uncountable nouns from various parts of speech denoting materials or systems of objects considered collectively.

   Roofing is a material that covers a roof.

   Piping is a system of pipes considered collectively.

3. Used to form nouns of the action or the procedure of a verb; usually identical with meaning 1. in the English language or expressed with -tion instead

   The forging of the sword took hours. - where forging denotes a planned procedure of work rather than a specific physical action

Synonyms

• (activity): -ery
• (collection): -age, -ery

Translations

The translations below are a guide only. See individual words for precise translations.

forming verbal nouns

• Dutch: -ing (nl) f, nominalization of the infinitive
• Finnish: -minen (fi), -nti (fi)
• German: -ung (de)
• Icelandic: -ing (is)
• Interlingua: -ion (ia), -mento (ia), -ar (ia), -er (ia), -ir (ia)
• Japanese: 居る (ja) (いる, iru)

• Low German: -d (nds) n

  Middle Low German: -t n

• Malay: peng--an (ms)
• Norwegian: -ing (no)
• Thai: การ- (th), ความ- (th)

materials, systems of objects

• Dutch: -werk (nl) n, -systeem (nl) n
• Faroese: -ing (fo) f

• Malay: -an (ms)
• Old Norse: -ing f

forming nouns of procedures

• Faroese: -ing (fo) f
• Low German: -inge (nds) f, -unge (nds), (dialectal) -en (nds), -ing' (nds)

  Middle Low German: -inge f

• Old Norse: -ing f

Etymology 2

From Middle English -inge, -ynge, alteration of earlier -inde, -ende, -and (see -and), from Old English -ende (present participle ending), from Proto-Germanic *-andz (present participle ending), from Proto-Indo-European *-nt-. Cognate with Dutch -end, German -end, Gothic -𐌰𐌽𐌳 (-and), Latin -ans, -ant-, Ancient Greek -ον (-on), Sanskrit  (-ant). More at -and.

Suffix

-ing

1. Used to form present participles of verbs.

   Rolling stones gather no moss.

   You are making a mess.

   • a. 2001, Brian Hall, “Beej's Guide to Network Programming”, “Using Internet Sockets”

     If you are connect()ing to a remote machine […] you can simply call connect(), it'll check to see if the socket is unworthy, and will bind() it to an unused local port if necessary.

Derived terms

• Category:English present participles

Translations

to form present participles

• Cantonese: 緊 (gan2), 住 (zyu6)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 着 (cmn) (zhe), 正在 (cmn) (zhèngzài)

• Danish: -ende (da)
• Dutch: -end (nl)
• Faroese: -andi (fo)
• French: -ant (fr)
• Icelandic: -andi (is)
• Interlingua: -ante (ia), -ente (ia), -iente (ia)
• Italian: -ando (it), (verbs ending in -are), -endo (it) (verbs ending in -ere or -ire), -ducendo (it) (verbs ending in -durre)

• Neapolitan: -anno, -enno
• Norwegian: -ende (no)
• Portuguese: -ando (pt), -endo (pt), -indo (pt)
• Spanish: -ando (es) (verbs ending in -ar), -iendo (es), -yendo (es) (verbs ending in -er and -ir)
• Swedish: -ande (sv) (verbs ending in -a), -ende (sv) (verbs ending in other letter than -a)
• Thai: กำลัง- (th)
• Turkish: -iyor (tr)

Etymology 3

Middle English -ing, from Old English -ing, from Proto-Germanic *-ingaz. Akin to Old Norse -ingr, Gothic -𐌹𐌲𐌲𐍃 (-iggs).

Suffix

-ing

1. Forming derivative nouns (originally masculine), with the sense ‘son of, belonging to’, as patronymics or diminutives.

   Browning, Channing, Ewing

   bunting

   shilling

   farthing

2. Having a specifed quality, characteristic, or nature; of the kind of

   sweeting

   whiting

   gelding

Derived terms

terms derived using -ing (etymology 3)

atheling

gelding

See also

• -ed

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Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse -ingr, -angr, -ungr.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /enɡ/, [eŋ], IPA: /nenɡ/, [neŋ]

Suffix

-ing, -ning

1. added to a verb to form a noun for an action or process, the result of or the subject performing such action
2. designate a person of a certain origin or with certain qualities

Usage notes

Nouns are in the common gender, and inflected -(n)ing -en, -er, -erne.

Synonyms

• (added to a verb to form a noun for an action or process): -else, -tion

Derived terms

• Category:Danish words suffixed with -ing
• Category:Danish words suffixed with -ning

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Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch -inge, from Old Dutch -unga, -onga, from Proto-Germanic *-ungō.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɪŋ/

Suffix

-ing f (plural -ingen, diminutive -inkje or -ingetje)

1. -ing; appended to a verb, this suffix is used to refer to the performance of the action of that verb, and the result thereof. The result is a verbal noun which in Dutch is called naamwoord van handeling (noun of action).

Derived terms

[+] Dutch words suffixed with -ing

words formed with -ing

aardbeving afstraffing aftrekking afwachting afzondering begeleiding bekering bekoring belasting belangstelling benadering beschadiging beschuldiging beslissing bestemming bevalling bevestiging bewening bezetting bezorging buiging dwaling doelstelling gisting inschrijving keuring kleding kroning kruisiging marteling navolging onderdrukking ontbossing ontduiking onthoofding ontleding ontmanteling ontvoering opeenhoping optelling schatting stelling stemming stroming tentoonstelling terechtstelling uitbarsting uitdrukking uitwerking verbuiging verhoging verleiding vermeerdering vermenigvuldiging verschrikking verschuiving verspilling verspreiding verstikking vertaling verwerving verwonding verzekering voeding voorstelling vulling zekering

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French

Etymology

From English

Pronunciation

• IPA: /iŋ/

Suffix

-ing

1. suffix used to form nouns

Usage notes

• Most terms suffixed with -ing are borrowed directly from English, but some are not (surbooking, lifting, relooking).

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Norwegian

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɪŋ/, X-SAMPA: /IN/
• Rhymes: -ɪŋ

Suffix

-ing f or m (see below)

1. Used to form verbal nouns from verbs; -ing.

   Han var lei av masing.

   Norwegian

The gender is usually f if the word ended in -ing in Old Norse and m if it ended in -ingr or -ingi. Living things like islending (“Icelander”) and dumming (“idiot”) are usually m whilst inanimate things like stråling (“radiation”) and eting (“the act of eating”) usually are f.

Derived terms

• austlending
• estlending
• finlending
• flamlending
• færøying (< Old Norse: færeyingr)
• grønlending
• helgelending
• hjaltlending (< Old Norse: hjaltlendingr, = shetlendar) (Nynorsk)
• hollending
• hordalending
• innlending
• irlending
• islending
• leilending (< Old Norse: leiglendingr < leiguland + -ingr) (Bokmål)
• leiglending (< Old Norse: leiglendingr < leiguland + -ingr) (Nynorsk)
• lettlending
• nederlending
• newzealending
• nordlending
• nyzealending
• shetlending (= shetlendar) (Nynorsk)
• shetlending (= shetlender) (Bokmål)
• swazilending
• sørlending
• thailending
• utlending
• vestlending
• viking (< Old Norse: víkingr)
• østlending

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Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA: /inɡ/, [iŋɡ]

Etymology 1

Variant of -ung.

Alternative forms

• -ung

Suffix

-ing

1. Forming nouns from verbs, indicating action, process or material.

Etymology 2

From Proto-Germanic *-ingaz.

Suffix

-ing

1. Forming derivatives of masculine nouns with sense of ‘belonging to, son of’.

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Swedish

Suffix

-ing

1. -ing; making nouns. See also -ning.

Derived terms

[+] Swedish words suffixed with -ing

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Uzbek

Suffix

-ing (-инг)

1. second-person singular possessive suffix. Used after a noun ending in a consonant. It has the same meaning as sening (“your”) placed before a noun.

   Bu kitobing.

   This is your book.

Usage notes

When directly addressing another person, it is polite to use the plural -ingiz or -ngiz forms.