Getting

How to spell getting

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce getting

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does getting mean?

1. verbThe present participle of 'get': in the process of obtaining, becoming, or arriving at something.

Getting in a sentence

• She is getting ready for the morning meeting.

• The team is getting closer to finishing the project on time.

Where does getting come from?

Language of origin: Old Norse

The base verb 'get' came into English from Old Norse 'geta', meaning 'to obtain', 'to reach', or 'to be able to', brought over by Scandinavian settlers during the Viking age. This Norse word shares an ancient ancestor with the Latin 'praehendere', 'to seize', which also gave English words like 'prehensile' and 'comprehend'. The everyday verb largely replaced or sat alongside native Old English forms, and by the medieval period 'get' had spread into countless senses of acquiring, fetching, and becoming. The form 'getting' is simply the present participle, built by adding '-ing'; because 'get' ends in a single vowel followed by a single consonant after a stressed short vowel, the final 't' doubles, which is the whole spelling trap. Writers who forget the rule produce the wrong single-t 'geting', so remembering the doubling pattern (as in 'sitting' and 'running') is the key.

How the word is built

• get (Old Norse root meaning 'to obtain')
• doubled t
• -ing (present participle suffix)