Putting

How to spell putting

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce putting

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does putting mean?

1. verbThe act of moving or setting something into a particular place or position.
2. verbStriking a golf ball gently along the green toward the hole.

Putting in a sentence

• She spent the morning putting the groceries away in the cupboards.

• He practised putting on the green for an hour before the round.

• Putting the children to bed early made the evening calmer.

• Her putting improved once she fixed her grip on the club.

Where does putting come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is the present participle of two closely related verbs that English spells the same way. The everyday verb 'put', meaning to place or set something somewhere, appears in late Old English as 'putian' or 'pytan', meaning to push, thrust, or prod; its deeper origin is genuinely uncertain, which is why dictionaries hedge on it. The golfing sense comes from 'putt', a Scottish form of the very same word that specialised into the gentle pushing stroke played on the green; Scots writers kept the spelling 'putt' to mark this distinct, softer 'uh' pronunciation. Because the base verbs end in a single short-vowel consonant, both double the final 't' before -ing, giving the doubled 'tt' that is the heart of the spelling. The split pronunciation, /pʊt/ for placing and /pʌt/ for the golf stroke, is the trap, since both look identical once -ing is added.

How the word is built

• put or putt (the verb base)
• -t- (consonant doubled before the suffix)
• -ing (present participle suffix)