Drying

How to spell drying

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce drying

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does drying mean?

1. verbIn the process of losing or removing moisture; becoming or making dry.
2. adjectiveServing to remove or absorb moisture.

Drying in a sentence

• verb

  The washing is drying on the line in the garden.

• adjective

  She stacked the clean mugs on the drying rack by the sink.

• verb

  He spent the afternoon drying the dishes after the party.

• adjective

  The climate here has a harsh drying effect on the skin.

Where does drying come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is the present participle of the verb 'dry', which descends from the Old English adjective drȳge, meaning 'without moisture' or 'parched'. That word belongs to a wider Germanic family, sharing roots with the Dutch droog and German trocken, all carrying the same idea of dryness. The verb sense, 'to make or become dry', grew naturally out of the adjective in early English. The spelling trap in 'drying' is the joining of the 'y' to the '-ing' ending: unlike many verbs ending in 'y' (which change to 'i' before a suffix, as in 'cried'), a 'y' preceded by a consonant keeps its 'y' before '-ing', so we write 'drying' rather than the wrong 'driing' or 'drieing'. Knowing that '-ing' simply attaches to the full base 'dry' makes the correct form easy to recall.

How the word is built

• dry (from Old English drȳge: without moisture)
• -ing (present participle / gerund suffix)