Keeping

How to spell keeping

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce keeping

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does keeping mean?

1. verbThe act of retaining, holding, or continuing to do something.
2. nounThe state of being looked after, guarded, or held in someone's charge.
3. nounAgreement or harmony with something, used in the phrase 'in keeping with'.

Keeping in a sentence

• verb

  She has trouble keeping a tidy desk during busy weeks.

• noun

  The original deeds are in the solicitor's safe keeping until completion.

• noun

  The quiet colour scheme was in keeping with the rest of the office.

• verb

  He is keeping the receipts in case the store needs proof of purchase.

• noun

  She left the spare key in the keeping of a trusted neighbour.

• noun

  His calm reply was perfectly in keeping with his usual manner.

Where does keeping come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is the present participle and gerund of the verb 'keep', which descends from the Old English 'cepan', meaning to seize, hold, observe, or watch over. The early sense leaned heavily on guarding and paying attention to something rather than merely possessing it, which is why we still talk about 'keeping watch' and holding things 'in safe keeping'. The deeper origins of 'cepan' are surprisingly murky, and scholars have never agreed on a confident pre-English source, so the trail goes cold in the early Germanic period. The '-ing' ending is the ordinary native suffix that turns a verb into its ongoing form or into a noun naming the activity. Because 'keep' already ends in a single 'p' after a long vowel, no consonant is doubled when '-ing' is added, which is exactly the small point that trips a few writers who expect 'keepping'.

How the word is built

• keep (root: to hold, retain)
• -ing (verb/noun suffix)