Loading

How to spell loading

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce loading

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does loading mean?

1. nounThe action of putting a load of goods, cargo, or material onto a vehicle, machine, or container.
2. nounThe process of transferring data or a program into memory so it becomes ready to use.
3. nounAn extra amount added to a basic premium or price to cover risk, expenses, or profit.

Loading in a sentence

• The loading of the delivery truck took most of the morning.

• The website showed a loading icon while the page fetched the images.

• The insurer applied a loading to the premium because of the driver's recent claims.

• A forklift handles the loading of pallets at the warehouse.

• Slow loading of the game frustrated players on older consoles.

• The policy quote included a loading for administration and risk.

Where does loading come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The base word load comes from the Old English 'lad', which originally meant 'a way, a course, or a journey' and by extension 'the act of carrying'. It is closely related to the verb 'lead' and to the old word 'lode' (a vein of ore or a guiding path), all sharing a Germanic root tied to travelling and conveying. Over the medieval period the sense narrowed from the journey itself to the burden carried on that journey, giving us the modern idea of a load as a quantity of goods. The form 'loading' is simply load with the productive '-ing' ending, used since the late 1500s for the action of putting a load on something. The spelling is regular: the silent magic 'e' of 'load' is not present, so the trap for adults is mainly remembering the long 'oa' vowel rather than a single 'o'.

How the word is built

• load (a quantity carried)
• -ing (noun/verb suffix denoting action or process)