Owing

How to spell owing

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce owing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does owing mean?

1. adjectiveStill to be paid or owed; remaining as a debt.
2. prepositionUsed in the phrase 'owing to' to mean because of or as a result of.

Owing in a sentence

• adjective

  The balance still owing on the account is forty pounds.

• preposition

  The flight was cancelled owing to severe weather.

• adjective

  She checked how much rent was owing before the deadline.

• preposition

  Owing to a staff shortage, the office closed early.

Where does owing come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is the present participle of the verb 'owe', which descends from the Old English āgan, meaning 'to possess' or 'to have'. In its earliest sense the verb was about ownership, and the past form āhte even gave us the modern word 'ought'; only later did the idea narrow toward being obliged to hand something back, that is, to be in debt. By the late Middle Ages 'owing' had settled into two related uses: describing money that is still to be paid, and, in the phrase 'owing to', signalling the cause of something. Note that the spelling drops the silent 'e' of 'owe' before the -ing ending, which is the small trap here, since writers sometimes want to keep the 'e' and produce the incorrect 'oweing'. The word stays close to its blunt Germanic roots and never picked up a Latin or French disguise.

How the word is built

• owe (from Old English āgan: to possess, then to be obliged to pay)
• -ing (present participle suffix)