Leaving

How to spell leaving

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce leaving

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does leaving mean?

1. verbPresent participle of 'leave': going away from a place or person, or letting something remain.
2. nounThe act or occasion of departing, often used of a farewell from a job.

Leaving in a sentence

• verb

  She is leaving the office at five to catch her train.

• noun

  The team organised a leaving party for their retiring manager.

• verb

  He kept leaving his keys on the kitchen counter every morning.

• noun

  Her leaving was marked with a card and a small gift.

Where does leaving come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is the present participle of the verb 'leave', which descends from the Old English word læfan, meaning 'to let remain' or 'to leave behind'. That root is connected to laf, an old noun for a remnant or what is left over, so the earliest sense was about what stays put rather than who departs; only later did the meaning swing toward the person going away. The verb has close cousins across the Germanic languages, including the German word bleiben, 'to remain', which preserves that original idea of staying. The spelling keeps the silent final 'e' of 'leave' in the base form, but when the '-ing' suffix is added that 'e' is dropped, giving 'leaving' rather than 'leaveing'. Remembering that rule, drop the 'e' before adding '-ing', is the surest way to avoid the common slip. The word has been in continuous English use for well over a thousand years.

How the word is built

• leav- (from Old English læfan: to let remain)
• -ing (present participle / gerund suffix)