Hiking

How to spell hiking

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce hiking

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does hiking mean?

1. nounThe activity of going for long, vigorous walks, usually in the countryside or hills.

Hiking in a sentence

• The club organises hiking trips into the hills every spring.

• Sturdy boots are essential for hiking over rocky ground.

Where does hiking come from?

Language of origin: Unknown

This word is the present participle of the verb 'hike', which surfaced in English dialect speech only in the early 1800s, making it a surprisingly young word. Its precise origin is genuinely uncertain, but lexicographers connect it to an older dialect verb 'hyke' or 'hyke up', meaning to walk briskly or to hitch something upward, as in pulling up one's trousers or a pack before setting off. The sense gradually narrowed from any energetic tramping to the specific recreation of long country walks, and Americans helped popularise that outdoor-leisure meaning across the twentieth century. The extra figurative use, a 'hike' in prices or rates, grew from the same idea of something being hitched sharply upward. Because the root verb ends in a silent 'e', the spelling simply drops that 'e' before adding -ing, leaving the single 'k' that some writers wrongly want to double.

How the word is built

• hike (to walk vigorously, especially over rough ground)
• -ing (forms a gerund or present participle)