milking
/ˈmɪlkɪŋ/noun, verb
milking is spelled M-I-L-K-I-N-G: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 1.5 times per million words in written English, the 22,651st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, milking means “The act by which any animal is milked” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of milking is milkings.
How many letters and syllables are in milking?
| Letters | 7: M-I-L-K-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.5 times per million words; the 22,651st 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 milking?
Milking appears 1.5 times per million words in written English, the 22,651st 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 milking?
- /ˈmɪlkɪŋ/
Milking 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-milking.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of milking
- milkings plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does milking mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The act by which any animal is milked.
We try to finish milking early in the morning so we can turn the cows out to pasture during the day.
- 2
informalMale masturbation (or fellatio) that leads to the release of semen, especially when performed on a milking table.
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of milk
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Milking in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense the act by which a cow is milked:
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 milking come from?
From Middle English milkinge, mylkynge, equivalent to milk + -ing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).