Capping

How to spell capping

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce capping

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does capping mean?

1. verbSetting a fixed upper limit on an amount, cost, or number.
2. verbPutting a protective top or covering over something.

Capping in a sentence

• The council is capping the rent increase at three percent this year.

• The builders are capping the garden wall with smooth stone.

• The regulator is capping the fees that banks can charge for late payments.

• The dentist is capping the cracked tooth to protect it.

Where does capping come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The base word 'cap' descends from the Late Latin cappa, which meant a hood or a cloak, the same source that gave us 'cape' and 'chapel'. Old English borrowed an early form, cæppe, for a head covering, and from there 'cap' broadened to mean almost any small covering or top, such as the cap on a bottle or a pen. The verb 'to cap' grew naturally out of the noun, first meaning to put a cap on something and later meaning to set an upper limit, as if placing a ceiling over a figure. 'Capping' is simply that verb in its -ing form, and English spelling rules double the final consonant of a short, stressed syllable before adding -ing, which is exactly why the single p of 'cap' becomes the double p of 'capping'. That doubling, rather than the root itself, is the only real spelling trap here.

How the word is built

• cap (root, from Late Latin cappa: a hood or cloak)
• -p- (consonant doubled before the suffix)
• -ing (present participle / gerund)