Rotting

How to spell rotting

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce rotting

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does rotting mean?

1. verbUndergoing gradual decay or decomposition, especially of organic matter.
2. adjectiveIn a state of decay; decomposing and breaking down.

Rotting in a sentence

• verb

  The fruit was slowly rotting at the bottom of the bowl.

• adjective

  They replaced the rotting fence panels along the back garden.

• verb

  Damp had left the floorboards rotting under the carpet.

• adjective

  A rotting log near the path was covered in fungus.

Where does rotting come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is the present participle of the verb 'rot', which comes from the Old English rotian, meaning 'to decay' or 'to decompose'. That verb belongs to a broad Germanic family; related forms appear in Old Norse rotna and Dutch rotten, all carrying the sense of matter breaking down and falling apart. The word has stayed remarkably stable in meaning over more than a thousand years, always describing organic decay. The spelling trap lives entirely in the suffix: because 'rot' is a short word ending in a single vowel plus a single consonant with stress on that syllable, the final t doubles before -ing, giving 'rotting' rather than 'roting'. Forgetting that doubling, which would wrongly suggest a long vowel as in 'roting', is the usual error.

How the word is built

• rot (Old English rotian: to decay)
• doubling of the final t
• -ing (present participle/gerund suffix)