Bursting

How to spell bursting

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce bursting

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does bursting mean?

1. verbBreaking open or apart suddenly because of internal pressure.
2. verbBeing so full or so filled with feeling that you can barely contain it.

Bursting in a sentence

• The old pipe was bursting under the strain of the frozen water.

• The cupboard was bursting with tins she had never opened.

• He heard a balloon bursting in the next room.

• She was bursting with pride when her daughter graduated.

Where does bursting come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word grows from the Old English verb berstan, which meant 'to break open with sudden force' or 'to shatter'. It belongs to a wide Germanic family, with close relatives in Old Norse bresta and German bersten, all carrying the same idea of something snapping apart under pressure. Interestingly, the original form had the 'r' before the vowel, and through a common sound-swapping process called metathesis the modern shape 'burst' settled into place. The participle 'bursting' has been used since the medieval period for things physically rupturing, and from the 1600s onward it took on the cheerful figurative sense of being so full of something (food, emotion, or eagerness) that one can barely contain it. Because it is a thoroughly native word, the spelling is regular and phonetic, with no silent letters to trap the writer.

How the word is built

• burst (from Old English berstan: to break suddenly)
• -ing (present participle suffix)