Craving

How to spell craving

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce craving

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does craving mean?

1. nounA powerful, often sudden desire for something, especially a particular food or drink.
2. verbPresent participle of crave: feeling a strong desire for something.

Craving in a sentence

• noun

  A late-night craving for chocolate sent her to the corner shop.

• verb

  She spent the afternoon craving a proper cup of coffee.

• noun

  The diet plan suggests drinking water whenever a craving strikes.

• verb

  After the long flight, he was craving a hot meal and a bed.

Where does craving come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word grows from the Old English verb crafian, which meant 'to ask for, demand, or beg by right', a stronger and more formal idea than the modern sense of longing. That verb belonged to the Germanic word stock, with relatives in the old Scandinavian languages where similar forms meant 'to demand'. Over the medieval period the sense softened from a legal or insistent demand into an intense personal longing, especially a bodily appetite for food or drink. The form 'craving' is built simply by adding the familiar -ing ending, which turns the verb into both a present participle and a noun naming the desire itself. Because the root is the plain word 'crave', the spelling is regular: keep the silent final 'e' of crave in mind and remember it is dropped before -ing, leaving 'craving' rather than 'craveing'.

How the word is built

• crave (from Old English crafian: to demand or beg)
• -ing (forming a noun or present participle)