ing
/ɪŋ/noun
ing is spelled I-N-G: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 8.9 times per million words in written English, the 7,672nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, ing means “A meadow, especially a low meadow near a river; water meadow” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of ing is ings.
How many letters and syllables are in ing?
| Letters | 3: I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 8.9 times per million words; the 7,672nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
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 ing?
Ing appears 8.9 times per million words in written English, the 7,672nd 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 ing?
- US /ɪŋ/
Ing has one syllable (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--ing.wav, En-us--ing.oga, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with ing?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as ing from its last stressed vowel (/ɪŋ/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: gin, nig.
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 ing
- ings plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does ing mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A meadow, especially a low meadow near a river; water meadow.
Ings, glens, and fens of the Highlands.
- 2
The letter for the ng sound /ŋ/ in Pitman shorthand.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Ing in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | -age , -tion, -ment , -ant |
| Portuguese | -ando, -endo, -indo |
| Spanish | -ando, -iendo , -yendo, estar que |
| German | -ung , -end |
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 ing come from?
From Middle English ing, ynge, enge, from Old English ing, *eng (“a meadow; ing”), from Proto-Germanic *angijō (“meadow”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂énkos (“a bend; curve; bowl; hollow; dell; glen”), from *h₂enk- (“to bend; curve; bow”). Cognate with Scots eng (“ing; meadow”), Dutch eng (“pasture; farmland”), Danish eng (“meadow”), Swedish äng (“meadow; field”), Norwegian eng (“meadow”), Faroese ong (“grassland; meadow; pasture”), Icelandic eng (“a meadow”), Icelandic engi (“a meadow; meadowland”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).