Standard Lemma guide

ing

name · noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American, Received-Pronunciation: ĭng
  • General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /ɪŋ/
  • rhymes with -ɪŋ
  • CMU ARPABET: IH1 NG Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

name

Meaning 1

A surname

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A meadow, especially a low meadow near a river; water meadow.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Qualifier: now only in dialects

Examples

  • Ings, glens, and fens of the Highlands.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

The letter for the ng sound /ŋ/ in Pitman shorthand.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Middle English ing, ynge, enge, from Old English ing, *eng (“a meadow; ing”), from Proto-Germanic *angijō (“meadow”), from Proto-Indo-European *h2énkos (“a bend; curve; bowl; hollow; dell; glen”), from *h2enk- (“to bend; curve; bow”). Cognate with Scots eng (“ing; meadow”), Dutch eng (“pasture; farmland”), Danish eng (“meadow”), Swedish äng (“meadow; field”), Norwegian eng (“meadow”), Faroese ong (“grassland; meadow; pasture”), Icelandic eng (“a meadow”), Icelandic engi (“a meadow; meadowland”).

From Pitman em and en, which it is related to phonetically and graphically, and the sound it represents. The change in vowel probably reflects the familiar suffix -ing.