going
/ˈɡoʊ.ɪŋ/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: 5.94 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
present participle and gerund of go
Example Sentences
- "I'm afraid I must be going."
- "theatre-going, church-going, movie-going"
- "Māna-Yood-Sushāī was before the beginning of the gods, and shall be after their going. […] After the going of the gods there will be no small worlds nor big."
- "But he found it strange to think […] of all these little things that cluster round the comings, and the stayings, and the goings, that he would know nothing of them, nothing of what they had been, as long as he lived, […]"
- "The going was very difficult over the ice."
- "We made good going for a while, but then we came to the price."
Etymology
Verb form from Middle English goinge, goynge, gayng, variants of gonde, goonde, gaand, from Old English gānde, from Proto-Germanic *gēndz, present participle of Proto-Germanic *gēną, *gāną (“to go”), equivalent to go + -ing. Cognate with West Frisian geanend (“going”), Dutch gaand (“going”), German gehend (“going”), Danish gående (“going”), Swedish gående (“going”). Noun and adjective from Middle English going, goyng, gaing, gayng, equivalent to go + -ing. Compare German Gehung, Old English gang (“a going”). More at gang.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈɡoʊ.ɪŋ/
- British English: /ˈɡəʊ.ɪŋ/
Usage
Inflected Forms
Phrases
Frequently Paired Words
going to