Boiling

How to spell boiling

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce boiling

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does boiling mean?

1. verbHeating a liquid until it bubbles and turns to vapour, or being in that bubbling state.
2. adjectiveUncomfortably or intensely hot, said of weather or a person.

Boiling in a sentence

• verb

  The pasta needs a large pot of boiling water.

• adjective

  The office felt boiling once the air conditioning failed.

• verb

  She watched the kettle until it was boiling properly.

• adjective

  Commuters were boiling on the crowded afternoon train.

Where does boiling come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word descends from the verb 'boil', which English took from Old French 'boillir' in the 1200s, itself from the Latin 'bullire', meaning 'to bubble up' or 'to seethe'. That Latin verb was built on 'bulla', a 'bubble' or rounded swelling, the very same root that gives us 'bull' in 'papal bull' (named for the round seal) and the word 'ebullient' for someone bubbling over with enthusiasm. The literal image, then, is water throwing up bubbles as it reaches its hottest point. The present participle form 'boiling' added the native English ending '-ing' and broadened into an adjective, first for liquids actually bubbling and later for anything fiercely hot or for a person seething with anger. Because the 'oi' simply spells the sound it makes, the word holds few traps beyond remembering that single 'l' before the ending.

How the word is built

• boil (from Latin bullire: to bubble)
• -ing (present participle / adjectival suffix)