Aiming

How to spell aiming

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce aiming

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does aiming mean?

1. verbPresent participle of aim: directing an effort, object, or weapon toward a particular target or goal.

Aiming in a sentence

• The company is aiming for record profits this quarter.

• She was aiming the camera at the stage when the lights came up.

Where does aiming come from?

Language of origin: French

The verb 'aim' came into English in the 1300s from Old French, where 'aesmer' and 'esmer' meant to estimate, to calculate, or to reckon a target. Those forms trace back to the Latin 'aestimare', meaning to value or to appraise, the same root that gives us 'estimate'. The early English sense kept this idea of calculating a course, then narrowed to the act of pointing a weapon or directing an effort toward a goal. The present participle 'aiming' simply adds the familiar '-ing' ending, and because 'aim' ends in a silent-feeling but pronounced 'm', writers occasionally double the consonant by mistake; the rule is that the single 'm' stays single, giving 'aiming' rather than 'aimming'.

How the word is built

• aim (to direct, point)
• -ing (present participle suffix)