Labelling

How to spell labelling

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce labelling

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does labelling mean?

1. verbThe act of attaching a tag or descriptive mark to something, or of categorising it with a name.

Labelling in a sentence

• The warehouse staff spent the morning labelling every box before dispatch.

• Clear labelling of allergens on the menu reassured the diners.

Where does labelling come from?

Language of origin: French

This is the present participle of the verb 'label', whose root noun came into English in the 1300s from the Old French word 'label', meaning a narrow strip, ribbon, or band of cloth. In heraldry that strip was a mark added to a coat of arms, and the broader sense of a tag or slip attached to something to identify it grew naturally from that idea of an added strip. The verb 'to label', meaning to attach such an identifying tag, did not become common until around the early 1600s, and the gerund 'labelling' simply describes the act of doing so. The Old French term may itself derive from a Germanic source related to words for a rag or flap of material. The spelling trap here is purely modern: British and Canadian writers double the final l before the -ing ending (labelling), while American writers keep a single l (labeling), even though the stress falls on the first syllable.

How the word is built

• label (from Old French label: a strip or ribbon)
• -ing (present participle/gerund), with the final l doubled in British and Canadian spelling

British and American spelling

Labelling is the British spelling. American English spells it labeling.