-ing | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

29 entries found.

suffix used to form the present participles of verbs and the adjectives derived from them, from Old English present-participle suffix -ende, from PIE *-nt- (cognates: German -end, Gothic -and, Sanskrit -ant, Greek -on, Latin -ans, -ens). The vowel weakened in late Old English and the spelling with -g began 13c.-14c. among Anglo-Norman scribes who naturally confused it with -ing (1).

-ing (3)

Old English -ing, patronymic suffix (denoting common origin); surviving in place names (Birmingham, Nottingham) where it denotes "tribe, community."

-ing (1)

suffix attached to verbs to mean their action, result, product, material, etc., from Old English -ing, also -ung, from Proto-Germanic *-unga-, *-inga- (cognates: Old Norse -ing, Dutch -ing, German -ung). In early use often denoting completed or habitual action; its use has been greatly expanded in Middle and Modern English.

appetizing (adj.)

"exciting desire or hunger," 1650s, from appetite on model of present-participle adjective forms in -ing.

aborning (adv.)

"while being born," 1893, American English; see a- (1) + born + -ing (2).

-sis

suffix in Greek-derived nouns denoting action, process, state, condition, from Greek -sis, which is identical in meaning with Latin -entia, English -ing (1).

being (n.)

c. 1300, "existence," in its most comprehensive sense, "condition, state, circumstances; presence, fact of existing," early 14c., existence," from be + -ing. Sense of "that which physically exists, a person or thing" (as in human being) is from late 14c.

unwilling (adj.)

early 15c., altered from or re-formed to replace Middle English unwilland, from Old English unwillende; see un- (1) "not" + willing (adj.). Also see -ing (2). Related: Unwillingly; unwillingness.

offing (n.)

"the more distant part of the open sea as seen from the shore," 1620s, a nautical term, from off (q.v.) + noun suffix -ing (1). Outside sea-jargon, it survives in the phrase in the offing (1779) which originally meant "in the distant future;" the modern sense of "impending" developed by 1914.

upstanding (adj.)

14c., altered from or replacing Old English upstandene, in the literal sense, from up (adv.) + standing (see stand (v.)); see -ing (2). Figurative sense of "honest" is attested from 1863. A verb upstand "stand up, be erect, rise" is recorded from c. 1200.

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