Blocking

How to spell blocking

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce blocking

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does blocking mean?

1. verbPreventing movement or passage by getting in the way of something.
2. nounThe planned positioning and movement of actors on a stage or film set.
3. nounThe act of using the body to obstruct an opponent during a game.

Blocking in a sentence

• verb

  The delivery van was blocking the entrance to the car park.

• noun

  The director spent the morning rehearsing the blocking for the opening scene.

• noun

  The coach praised her blocking at the net during the volleyball match.

• verb

  A fallen branch was blocking the drain and causing the flood.

• noun

  Clear blocking helped the cast avoid colliding during the crowded party scene.

• noun

  Effective blocking gave the running back room to advance the ball.

Where does blocking come from?

Language of origin: Dutch

The base word 'block' came into English in the late 1300s from the Old French 'bloc', meaning a solid lump or log, which in turn was borrowed from the Middle Dutch 'blok', a word for a tree trunk or a heavy chunk of wood. The literal sense of a thick wooden mass quickly broadened: a block could obstruct a path, so the verb 'to block' meaning 'to obstruct or shut off' grew naturally from the idea of placing a heavy log in the way. Adding the suffix '-ing' produces the verbal noun and present participle 'blocking', recorded from the early modern period onward. The same Dutch root that gave us a builder's wooden block also lies behind 'blockade' and the printer's 'block' for an image, showing how the plain idea of a wooden chunk spread across many trades. Because the spelling simply keeps the hard 'ck' of 'block' before the regular '-ing', it holds no real surprises, which is why writers rarely stumble over it.

How the word is built

• block (from Middle Dutch blok: log, tree trunk)
• -ing (forming a gerund or present participle)