underlining
noun, verb
underlining is spelled U-N-D-E-R-L-I-N-I-N-G: 11 letters and 4 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 42,145th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, underlining means “An act or instance of marking text with an underline” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of underlining is underlinings.
How many letters and syllables are in underlining?
| Letters | 11: U-N-D-E-R-L-I-N-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 42,145th 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 underlining?
Underlining appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 42,145th 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 underlining?
- US
Underlining has 4 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)-Flame,_not_lame-underlining.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of underlining
- underlinings plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does underlining mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An act or instance of marking text with an underline.
- 2
A lining on the inside of a garment.
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of underline
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does underlining come from?
From underline + -ing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).