dusting
/ˈdʌstɪŋ/noun, verb
dusting is spelled D-U-S-T-I-N-G: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 25,367th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, dusting means “A light snowfall” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of dusting is dustings.
How many letters and syllables are in dusting?
| Letters | 7: D-U-S-T-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.3 times per million words; the 25,367th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is dusting?
Dusting appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 25,367th 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 dusting?
- /ˈdʌstɪŋ/
Dusting 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-dusting.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of dusting
- dustings plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does dusting mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A light snowfall.
The rooves are covered with a dusting of snow.
- 2
A light covering of something.
Cover the cake with a dusting of confectioner's sugar.
- 3
The act of removing dust from the furniture, as a household chore.
Tuesday is the day when I do the dusting.
- 4
colloquialA beating.
- 5
A maintenance or comfort behaviour in which a bird flushes fine dirt through the feathers; dustbathing.
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of dust
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Dusting in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | saupoudrage , dépoussiérage |
| German | Überpuderung, Puderschicht , Staubwischen, Entstauben, Staubentfernung |
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.