Calming

How to spell calming

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce calming

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does calming mean?

1. adjectiveHaving a soothing effect that reduces stress, anxiety, or agitation.
2. verbPresent participle of 'calm': in the act of making someone or something quieter and less agitated.

Calming in a sentence

• adjective

  The spa played soft, calming music throughout the afternoon.

• verb

  The nurse was calming the anxious patient before the procedure.

• adjective

  A cup of chamomile tea has a calming effect before bed.

• verb

  He spent the storm calming the nervous dog under the table.

Where does calming come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word grows from the adjective 'calm', which entered English in the late 1300s and traces back through Old French 'calme' and Italian 'calma' to the Late Latin 'cauma', meaning the burning heat of the midday sun. That Latin form was itself borrowed from the Greek 'kauma', 'heat', a relative of 'kaiein', 'to burn'. The leap from 'heat' to 'stillness' came from daily life in hot Mediterranean climates: during the fierce heat of the day everything fell quiet and motionless, so the word for that heat came to suggest tranquillity and a windless sea. The participle and adjective 'calming' simply add the productive English ending '-ing' to that root. One spelling trap survives from the journey: the 'l' is written but not pronounced, a silent letter that the word picked up partly by analogy with other 'al' spellings.

How the word is built

• calm (still, quiet)
• -ing (forming an adjective and present participle)