Climbing

How to spell climbing

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce climbing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does climbing mean?

1. verbMoving upward, typically by gripping with the hands and feet or by gradually rising.
2. nounThe sport or activity of ascending rocks, mountains, or artificial walls.

Climbing in a sentence

• verb

  The cat was climbing the curtains again this morning.

• noun

  Indoor climbing has become a popular weekend hobby in our town.

• verb

  Prices kept climbing all through the winter months.

• noun

  He bought new shoes and a harness for climbing at the local gym.

Where does climbing come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word grows out of the Old English verb climban, which already meant 'to ascend' or 'to mount by clutching with hands and feet', a sense that has barely shifted in well over a thousand years. It belongs to a broad Germanic family, with close cousins such as the Dutch klimmen and the German klimmen, all tracing back to a Proto-Germanic root tied to the idea of clinging, gripping, or sticking fast, which makes sense given that early climbing meant hauling yourself upward by holding on. The treacherous silent 'b' is the real story for spellers: in older English the word was pronounced with a sounded 'b' (as in 'climb-buh'), but that final consonant fell silent over the centuries while the spelling stubbornly preserved it. The same fossilised 'b' haunts its relatives 'thumb', 'dumb', and 'limb'. When you add the '-ing' ending you simply keep the whole base intact, so the hidden 'b' sits quietly between the 'm' and the 'i', which is exactly where writers tend to drop it.

How the word is built

• climb (from Old English climban: to ascend)
• -ing (present participle / gerund suffix)