Starting

How to spell starting

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce starting

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does starting mean?

1. verbIn the process of beginning an action, task, or journey.
2. adjectiveRelating to the initial point, position, or amount from which something proceeds.

Starting in a sentence

• verb

  She is starting a new job in the marketing department next week.

• adjective

  The starting salary for the role is higher than she expected.

• verb

  We are starting the meeting a little later than usual today.

• adjective

  The runners lined up behind the starting line and waited for the signal.

Where does starting come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The base word start comes from the Old English styrtan, meaning 'to leap up' or 'to move suddenly', and its sense was originally about a sharp, jerky motion rather than a beginning. Related forms appear across the Germanic languages, including a Middle Dutch word for 'to rush' and an Old High German word for 'to fall headlong', all sharing the idea of a sudden movement. Over the medieval and early modern periods the meaning drifted from 'to jerk into motion' toward 'to set something into motion' and then to the modern sense of 'to begin'. The participle and gerund were formed simply by adding the long-established English suffix -ing, which turns a verb into its ongoing or noun-like form. Because the root is start, the spelling keeps both t letters: the t of start plus the -ing, so the word is start plus ing with nothing dropped or doubled.

How the word is built

• start (to begin, move suddenly)
• -ing (present participle / gerund suffix)