On-going or ongoing?
on-going is a noun meaning “Alternative form of ongoing”; ongoing is a noun meaning “Something that is going on; a happening”. on-going is written with a hyphen and ongoing as one word; they are used differently.
What is the difference between on-going and ongoing?
| on-going | ongoing | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, adjective | adjective, noun, verb |
| Meaning | Alternative form of ongoing | Continuing, permanent, lasting Presently or currently happening; being in progress Something that is going on; a happening |
| Example | none recorded | none recorded |
| Forms | on-goings | ongoings |
| Pronunciation | not recorded | /ɒnˈɡəʊ.ɪŋ/ /ɔnˈɡəwɪŋ/ /ɑnˈɡoʊ.ɪŋ/ |
| In writing | not counted (the list counts single words) | 21 times per million words |
Sources: on-going and ongoing in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of on-going and ongoing
on-going
- 1
Alternative form of ongoing
- 2
Alternative form of ongoing
ongoing
- 1
Continuing, permanent, lasting
- 2
Something that is going on; a happening
- 3
Presently or currently happening; being in progress
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, on-going or ongoing?
on-going is a phrase, which the list of single words does not count; ongoing 21 times per million words.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search on-going vs ongoing?
“on-going vs ongoing” is searched about 1,300 times a month on Google and 40 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“ongoing vs on-going”, “on-going or ongoing”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.