Popping

How to spell popping

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce popping

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does popping mean?

1. verbMaking short, sharp bursting sounds, or bursting and releasing suddenly.
2. verbGoing somewhere quickly and briefly, or appearing suddenly.

Popping in a sentence

• The corn was popping loudly in the hot pan.

• He is popping to the shop for some milk before dinner.

• Balloons kept popping at the busy birthday party.

• New cafes keep popping up all over the high street.

Where does popping come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The base word 'pop' is imitative in origin, coined in late Middle English to echo the short, sharp sound of a small burst or sudden blow. It first appears around the 1400s as a verb meaning to strike or to make a quick bursting noise, and the spelling simply mirrored the sound rather than any older root. Over the centuries the sense broadened from the literal noise to ideas of sudden movement and quick appearance, as in something that springs into view. The participle 'popping' adds the ordinary -ing ending, and because 'pop' ends in a single vowel followed by a single consonant, that final p is doubled before the suffix; this doubling is the only real spelling point to remember. The same imitative instinct lies behind a family of relatives such as 'pip', 'puff' and 'pep', all built to sound like the thing they describe.

How the word is built

• pop (imitative root: a short burst or sharp sound)
• -p- (consonant doubled to keep the short vowel)
• -ing (present participle suffix)