going
go·ing/ˈɡəʊ.ɪŋ/verb, noun, adjective
going is spelled G-O-I-N-G, 2 syllables: go·ing. The wrong spelling people search most is gogin: about 20 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 400 of all searches for the word. Going is a verb meaning “Attending or visiting (a stated event, place, etc.) habitually or regularly”.
How many letters and syllables are in going?
| Letters | 5: G-O-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: go·ing |
| In writing | 871 times per million words; the 125th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 4; the most searched, gogin, about 20 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell going?
Going is spelled G-O-I-N-G. 4 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 159 of the searches for going in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is going?
Going appears 871 times per million words in written English, the 125th 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 going?
- UK /ˈɡəʊ.ɪŋ/
- /ˈɡuː.ɪŋ/ [ˈɡʊw.ɪŋɡ]
- /ˈɡæn.ɪn/
Going has 2 syllables, split go·ing in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-going.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with going?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as going from its last stressed vowel (/əʊɪŋ/, British pronunciation):
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 going
- goings plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does going mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of go
I'm afraid I must be going.
- 2
Attending or visiting (a stated event, place, etc.) habitually or regularly.
theatre-going, church-going, movie-going
noun
- 1
A departure.
- 2
The suitability of ground for riding, walking etc.
The going was very difficult over the ice.
- 3
Progress.
We made good going for a while, but then we came to the price.
- 4
Conditions for advancing in any way.
Not only were the streets not paved with gold, but the going was difficult for an immigrant.
- 5
Course of life; behaviour; doings; ways.
- 6
The whereabouts (of something).
I can't find my sunglasses; you haven't seen the going of them, have you?
- 7
The horizontal distance between the front of one step in a flight of stairs and the front of the next.
Each step had a rise of 170 mm and a going of 250 mm.
adjective
- 1
Likely to continue; viable.
He didn't want to make an unsecured loan to the business because it didn't look like a going concern.
- 2
Current, prevailing.
The going rate for manual snow-shoveling is $25 an hour.
- 3
Available.
He has the easiest job going.
verb
- 1
rareAlternative spelling of going.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Going in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | Fortschritt , Weiterkommen , geltend |
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 going come from?
Verb form from Middle English goinge, goynge, gayng, variants of gonde, goonde, gaand, from Old English gānde, from Proto-Germanic *gēndz, present participle of Proto-Germanic *gēną, *gāną (“to go”), equivalent to go + -ing. Cognate with West Frisian geanend (“going”), Dutch gaand (“going”), German gehend (“going”), Danish gående (“going”), Swedish gående (“going”). Noun and adjective from Middle English going, goyng, gaing, gayng, equivalent to go + -ing. Compare German Gehung, Old English gang (“a going”). More at gang.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).