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winding

wind·ing/ˈwɪndɪŋ/noun, adjective, verb

winding is spelled W-I-N-D-I-N-G: 7 letters and 2 syllables (wind·ing). It appears 5.1 times per million words in written English, the 11,015th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, winding means “The act of winnowing (“subjecting food grain to a current of air to separate the grain from the chaff”)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of winding is windings.

How many letters and syllables are in winding?

Letters7: W-I-N-D-I-N-G
Syllables2: wind·ing
In writing5.1 times per million words; the 11,015th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 winding?

Winding appears 5.1 times per million words in written English, the 11,015th 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 winding?

  • US /ˈwɪndɪŋ/

As a noun (“The act of twisting something, or coiling or wrapping…”): /ˈwaɪndɪŋ/.

Winding has 2 syllables, split wind·ing in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-winding2.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-winding1.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of winding

  • windings plural
  • more winding comparative
  • most winding superlative

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does winding mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    The act of winnowing (“subjecting food grain to a current of air to separate the grain from the chaff”).

  2. 2

    The act of blowing air through a wind instrument or (chiefly) a horn to make a sound.

  3. 3

    The act of twisting something, or coiling or wrapping something around another thing.

  4. 4

    A curving, sinuous, or twisting movement; twists and turns.

  5. 5

    A curving, sinuous, or twisting form.

  6. 6

    Chiefly followed by up: the act of tightening the spring of a clockwork or other mechanism.

  7. 7

    Sometimes followed by up: the act of hoisting something using a winch or a similar device.

  8. 8

    Twists and turns in an occurrence, in thinking, or some other thing; also, moral crookedness; craftiness, shiftiness.

  9. 9

    UKThe act or process of turning a boat or ship in a certain direction.

  10. 10

    obsoleteA variation in a tune.

adjective

  1. 1

    Causing one to be breathless or out of breath.

  2. 2

    Of a horn or wind instrument: blown to make a sound.

  3. 3

    Moving in a sinuous or twisting manner.

  4. 4

    Sinuous, turning, or twisting in form.

  5. 5

    Chiefly of a staircase: helical, spiral.

  6. 6

    Of speech, writing, etc.: not direct or to the point; rambling, roundabout.

  7. 7

    obsoleteFlexible, pliant.

  8. 8

    obsoleteMorally crooked; crafty, shifty.

verb

  1. 1

    present participle and gerund of wind (a form of wind)

  2. 2

    present participle and gerund of wind (a form of wind)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Winding in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
GermanWicklung (act of twisting something, or coiling or…), biegend, gewunden, schlängelnd (sinuous, turning, or twisting in form)
Portuguesesinuoso, tortuoso (sinuous, turning, or twisting in form), enrolado, enrolada (something wound around another thing), bobina, enrolamento (length of wire wound around the armature of an…)
Frenchsinueux, tortueux (sinuous, turning, or twisting in form)

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 winding come from?

The noun is derived from Middle English winding, windinge, wyndynge (“act of exposing something to the wind, airing, ventilating; act of winnowing (?)”), from winden, wynden (“to expose (something) to the air or wind, ventilate; to cause (someone) to be out of breath; to winnow (wheat); of an animal: to catch the scent of (someone or something)”) + -ing, -inge (suffix forming gerund nouns, and the present participle forms of verbs). The adjective is derived from the verb.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after winding