pointing
point·ing/ˈpɔɪntɪŋ/noun, verb
pointing is spelled P-O-I-N-T-I-N-G: 8 letters and 2 syllables (point·ing). It appears 16 times per million words in written English, the 5,121st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, pointing means “The action of the verb to point” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of pointing is pointings.
How many letters and syllables are in pointing?
| Letters | 8: P-O-I-N-T-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: point·ing |
| In writing | 16 times per million words; the 5,121st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is pointing?
Pointing appears 16 times per million words in written English, the 5,121st 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 pointing?
- UK /ˈpɔɪntɪŋ/
- US /ˈpɔɪntɪŋ/
- /ˈpɔɪnɪŋ/
Pointing has 2 syllables, split point·ing in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-pointing.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of pointing
- pointings plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does pointing mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The action of the verb to point.
- 2
The filling of joints in brickwork or masonry with mortar.
- 3
proscribedMortar that has been placed between bricks to fill the gap.
- 4
The act or art of punctuating; punctuation.
- 5
The rubbing off of the point of the wheat grain in the first process of high milling.
- 6
The act or process of measuring, at the various distances from the surface of a block of marble, the surface of a future piece of statuary; also, a process used in cutting the statue from the artist's model.
- 7
The practice of placing metrical marks in a text (typically a psalm), which indicate the syllables on which the chant should progress to the next note, as well as features such as pauses.
- 8
A particular arrangement of such marks within a given text.
Psalm pointings sometimes differ between psalters.
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of point
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Pointing in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
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 pointing come from?
From point + -ing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).