playing
/ˈpleɪ.ɪŋ/noun, verb
playing is spelled P-L-A-Y-I-N-G: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 234 times per million words in written English, the 425th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, playing means “An occasion on which something, such as a song or show, is played” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of playing is playings.
How many letters and syllables are in playing?
| Letters | 7: P-L-A-Y-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 234 times per million words; the 425th 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 playing?
Playing appears 234 times per million words in written English, the 425th 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 playing?
- /ˈpleɪ.ɪŋ/
Playing 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: En-us-playing.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of playing
- playings plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does playing mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An occasion on which something, such as a song or show, is played.
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of play
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does playing come from?
From Middle English playing; equivalent to play + -ing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).