turning
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
7 characters
Language
English
word origin
Source
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "turning", 7-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "turning" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "turning" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
turning is aEnglishnoun. It means: A turn or deviation from a straight course. Pronounced /ˈtɜː.nɪŋ/. It ranks #2,023 in English word frequency. Often confused with turnip and Turin.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | turning |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈtɜː.nɪŋ/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #2,023 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 13 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for turning is 7 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈtɜː.nɪŋ/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,023 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 11 documented wrong-spelling variants for turning, with forms such as "truning", "tturning", and "tunring". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 13 confusable-pair relationships, "turnip", "Turin", "trying", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English turnyng, turnynge, from Old English tyrning, turnung, equivalent to turn + -ing. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is turning, spelled T-U-R-N-I-N-G, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1A turn or deviation from a straight course.
- 2At hockey, a foul committed by a player attempting to hit the ball who interposes their body between the ball and an opposing player trying to do the same.
- 3The cutting of wood or metal on a lathe to shape it as needed.
- 4The act of one who turns (rotates or twists).
- 5One of the four eras, each lasting for about 21 years, that make up a saeculum according to the Strauss-Howe generational theory.
- 6Shavings produced by turning something on a lathe.
Etymology
From Middle English turnyng, turnynge, from Old English tyrning, turnung, equivalent to turn + -ing.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: truning,tturning,tunring,turinng,turnign,turningg,turninng,turnnig,turnning,turrning,utrning
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for turning
Misspelling Variants of "turning"
Frequency rank: #2,023 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter T in our English index: