Piercing

How to spell piercing

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce piercing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does piercing mean?

1. adjectiveSo sharp or intense that it seems to penetrate, as with a sound, look, or cold.
2. nounA small hole made in part of the body so that a ring or stud can be worn in it.

Piercing in a sentence

• adjective

  The piercing wind cut straight through her thin coat on the platform.

• noun

  She booked an appointment to get a nose piercing at the studio in town.

• adjective

  A piercing alarm woke the whole building at three in the morning.

• noun

  The new job had a strict policy about visible facial piercing at the front desk.

Where does piercing come from?

Language of origin: French

This word grows out of the verb 'pierce', which English took from the Old French 'percer', meaning 'to bore through' or 'to make a hole in'. The French verb is generally traced back to Vulgar Latin, probably to a form like 'pertusiare', built from the Latin 'pertundere', 'to thrust through' or 'to punch a hole', combining 'per' (through) with 'tundere' (to beat or strike). English adopted 'pierce' in the 1200s and quickly developed figurative uses, so that a sound, a glance, or a cold wind could be said to pierce as sharply as a needle. The present participle 'piercing' then settled into an adjective for anything that seems to penetrate the senses, and later into a noun for a hole made in the body for jewellery. The 'ie' spelling reflects the Old French vowel and is the small trap here, since the sound alone gives no clue to the order of the letters.

How the word is built

• pierc- (from pierce: to make a hole through)
• -ing (forming adjective/noun)