floating
/ˈfloʊtɪŋ/adjective, noun, verb
floating is spelled F-L-O-A-T-I-N-G: 8 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 15 times per million words in written English, the 5,309th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, floating means “That floats or float” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in floating?
| Letters | 8: F-L-O-A-T-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 15 times per million words; the 5,309th 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 floating?
Floating appears 15 times per million words in written English, the 5,309th 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 floating?
- US /ˈfloʊtɪŋ/
- UK /ˈfləʊtɪŋ/
Floating 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)-Persent101-floating.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with floating?
4 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as floating from its last stressed vowel (/oʊtɪŋ/):
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 floating
- floatings plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does floating mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
That floats or float.
floating buoys
- 2
Not fixed in position, opinion etc.; free to move or drift.
The outcome of the forthcoming election is still unclear due to the large number of floating voters.
- 3
Present in the underlying phonological representation but not linked to an anchor on which it can surface.
noun
- 1
The motion of something that floats.
- 2
Material that floats in a liquid.
- 3
The spreading of plaster on the surface of walls.
- 4
A veterinary dental procedure involving the filing down of sharp surfaces on a horse's teeth.
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of float
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Floating in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense that floats:
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 floating come from?
By surface analysis, float + -ing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).