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PlainSpell

bearing

/ˈbɛɹɪŋ/adjective, noun, verb

bearing is spelled B-E-A-R-I-N-G: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 17 times per million words in written English, the 4,934th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, bearing means “That bears (some specified thing)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in bearing?

Letters7: B-E-A-R-I-N-G
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing17 times per million words; the 4,934th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is bearing?

Bearing appears 17 times per million words in written English, the 4,934th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce bearing?

  • UK /ˈbɛə̯ɹɪŋ/
  • US /ˈbɛɹɪŋ/

Bearing has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-bearing.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with bearing?

9 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as bearing from its last stressed vowel (/ɛɹɪŋ/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of bearing

  • bearings plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does bearing mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    That bears (some specified thing).

    a gift-bearing visitor

  2. 2

    Of a beam, column, or other device, carrying weight or load.

    That's a bearing wall.

noun

  1. 1

    A mechanical device that supports another part or reduces friction.

  2. 2

    The horizontal angle between the direction of an object and another object, or between it and that of true north; a heading or direction.

  3. 3

    One's understanding of one's orientation or relative position, literally or figuratively.

    Do we go left here or straight on? Hold on, let me just get my bearings.

  4. 4

    Relevance; a relationship or connection.

    That has no bearing on this issue.

  5. 5

    One's posture, demeanor, or manner.

    She walks with a confident, self-assured bearing.

  6. 6

    That part of any member of a building which rests upon its supports.

    A lintel or beam may have four inches of bearing upon the wall.

  7. 7

    The portion of a support on which anything rests.

  8. 8

    proscribedThe unsupported span.

    The beam has twenty feet of bearing between its supports.

verb

  1. 1

    present participle and gerund of bear (a form of bear)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Bearing in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchporteur (carrying weight or load), roulement, coussinet, palier (mechanical device), azimut (nautical sense), portée (relevance)
Germantragend (carrying weight or load), Lager (mechanical device), Peilung (nautical sense), Auflager, Spannweite, Tragweite (architecture)
Spanishde soporte, de apoyo (carrying weight or load), cojinete (mechanical device), rumbo (nautical sense)
Portugueserolamento (mechanical device), rumo (nautical sense), relevância, importância, valor (relevance), conduta (posture)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does bearing come from?

From Middle English beringe, berynge, berende, berande, berand, from Old English berende (“bearing; fruitful”) (also as synonym Old English bǣrende), from Proto-Germanic *berandz, present participle of Proto-Germanic *beraną (“to bear; carry”), equivalent to bear + -ing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after bearing