Minding

How to spell minding

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce minding

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does minding mean?

1. verbTaking care of or attending to a person, animal, or place for a period of time.
2. verbBeing bothered by or objecting to something.

Minding in a sentence

• She is minding the children while their parents are at work.

• Without minding in the slightest, she gave up her seat for the elderly man.

• He spent the whole afternoon minding the shop on his own.

• He agreed to stay late, not minding the extra hours at all.

Where does minding come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is the present participle of the verb 'mind', which traces back to the Old English noun 'gemynd', meaning 'memory', 'thought', or 'the act of remembering'. That noun grew from a Proto-Germanic root tied to thinking and recollection, and it is a distant relative of Latin 'mens' (mind) and the Sanskrit verb meaning 'to think'. For centuries 'mind' was chiefly about memory and mental activity, and only later did the verb develop its practical English senses of paying attention to something, objecting to it, and looking after it. The caretaking sense, as in minding a child or a shop, became common in everyday English speech. The spelling is straightforward: the silent reminder is simply that 'mind' keeps its 'd' before the regular '-ing' ending, never doubling or dropping a letter.

How the word is built

• mind (memory, attention, care)
• -ing (present participle suffix)