dawning
/ˈdɔːnɪŋ/noun, verb
dawning is spelled D-A-W-N-I-N-G: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 37,459th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, dawning means “Dawn” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of dawning is dawnings.
How many letters and syllables are in dawning?
| Letters | 7: D-A-W-N-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 37,459th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none 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 dawning?
Dawning appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 37,459th 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 dawning?
- US /ˈdɔːnɪŋ/
- /ˈdɑːnɪŋ/
Dawning 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-dawning.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with dawning?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as dawning from its last stressed vowel (/ɔnɪŋ/):
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 dawning
- dawnings plural
- daunyng
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does dawning mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Dawn.
- 2
The first beginnings of something.
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of dawn
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does dawning come from?
From Middle English dawnynge, an alteration of dawing, under the influence of North Germanic cognates (compare Swedish, Danish dagning). See daw (“to dawn”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).