Calling

How to spell calling

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce calling

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does calling mean?

1. nounA strong inner urge toward a particular profession or way of life, felt almost as a duty.
2. nounThe act of shouting out, summoning, or telephoning someone.

Calling in a sentence

• Nursing was always her true calling rather than just a job.

• The constant calling of names across the warehouse made it hard to concentrate.

• He left banking to follow his calling as a teacher.

• Repeated calling of the customer's number finally got an answer.

Where does calling come from?

Language of origin: Old Norse

The base verb call entered English from the Old Norse kalla, meaning 'to cry out, to summon, or to name', a word brought over by Norse settlers during the Viking period and reinforcing a related Old English form. Adding the productive suffix -ing turned the verb into a noun for the activity itself, the act of crying out or summoning. From the 1300s the noun took on a powerful figurative sense: a summons felt from God or destiny, which is why a person's deepest vocation came to be called their calling. That religious flavour, the idea of being 'called' to a task, still colours the modern career sense. The spelling is straightforward once you remember it keeps the double l of call before the ending, so the single-l mistake 'caling' simply drops a letter the root word demands.

How the word is built

• call (from Old Norse kalla: to cry out, summon)
• -ing (noun/gerund suffix)