Dying

How to spell dying

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce dying

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does dying mean?

1. adjectiveIn the process of coming to the end of life or existence.
2. adjectiveUsed informally to mean wanting something very badly, as in 'dying for' or 'dying to'.

Dying in a sentence

• The gardener pruned the dying branches from the old apple tree.

• After the long flight she was dying for a strong cup of coffee.

• The charity supports families caring for a dying relative at home.

• The children were dying to open their presents before breakfast.

Where does dying come from?

Language of origin: Old Norse

This is the present participle of the verb 'die', which English took from the Old Norse 'deyja', meaning 'to pass away' or 'to perish'. The native Old English of the period leaned on words like 'steorfan' (the ancestor of modern 'starve'), so the Norse-derived 'die' spread through northern England and became the standard verb during the 1100s and 1200s. To form the participle, English follows its regular rule for verbs ending in a consonant plus silent e: the e is dropped before adding -ing. Because dropping the e from 'die' would leave the awkward 'di-ing', the i is kept and the spelling settles as 'dying'. That same rule, and the lone vowel it leaves behind, is exactly why 'dying' (ceasing to live) is so easily muddled with 'dyeing' (colouring cloth), where the e is deliberately kept to protect the soft sound.

How the word is built

• die (to cease living)
• -ing (present participle); the silent e of 'die' is dropped and i kept, giving dy-
• -ing