shaping
noun, verb
shaping is spelled S-H-A-P-I-N-G: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 5.2 times per million words in written English, the 10,843rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, shaping means “The action of the verb to shape” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of shaping is shapings.
How many letters and syllables are in shaping?
| Letters | 7: S-H-A-P-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 5.2 times per million words; the 10,843rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| 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 shaping?
Shaping appears 5.2 times per million words in written English, the 10,843rd 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 shaping?
Shaping 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).
What rhymes with shaping?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as shaping.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: phasing.
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 shaping
- shapings plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does shaping mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The action of the verb to shape.
- 2
A method of positive reinforcement of behaviour patterns in a series of steps in operant conditioning.
- 3
The action of the metal-cutting machine called a shaper, which uses linear single-point cutting. It is largely but not entirely obsolete.
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of shape
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Shaping in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | Formung |
| Spanish | moldeamiento |
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 shaping come from?
From Middle English schapynge, equivalent to shape + -ing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).