Making

How to spell making

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce making

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does making mean?

1. verbThe present participle of make: in the process of producing, creating, or causing something.
2. nounThe process or act of producing or creating something.

Making in a sentence

• verb

  She is making a spreadsheet to track the household budget.

• noun

  The documentary covered the making of the bridge over five years.

• verb

  The contractor is making steady progress on the kitchen.

• noun

  The success of the launch was years in the making.

Where does making come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is the -ing form of the verb 'make', which descends from the Old English verb macian, meaning 'to form, fashion, or bring into being'. That verb belonged to a wider Germanic family, related to Dutch maken and German machen, all carrying the core idea of shaping or fitting something together. The -ing ending is a native English suffix that turns a verb into either a present participle (the ongoing action) or a gerund (the action treated as a thing). The spelling trap is small but real: because the base verb ends in a silent 'e', that 'e' is dropped before -ing, giving 'making' rather than the tempting 'makeing'. The same rule quietly governs a whole family of words such as 'baking', 'taking', and 'hoping'.

How the word is built

• make (root, from Old English macian: to form, build)
• -ing (present participle / gerund suffix)