Steaming

How to spell steaming

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce steaming

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does steaming mean?

1. adjectiveGiving off steam, or so hot that vapour rises from it.
2. verbCooking food in steam, or moving while emitting steam.
3. adjectiveInformally, extremely angry.

Steaming in a sentence

• adjective

  She carried a steaming mug of coffee to her desk.

• verb

  Steaming the vegetables keeps more of their nutrients than boiling.

• adjective

  He was steaming after the delivery arrived broken for the second time.

• adjective

  A steaming bowl of soup waited on the table.

• verb

  The old locomotive came steaming into the station.

• adjective

  She came home steaming about the parking fine.

Where does steaming come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word is built on 'steam', which comes from the Old English 'steam', meaning vapour, smoke, or the hot mist given off by boiling water. The same root appears in related Germanic languages, such as the Dutch 'stoom', and it always carried the sense of rising warm vapour. The '-ing' ending is the ordinary English suffix that turns a verb into its present participle and into an adjective describing something actively doing the action. As an everyday word it became especially common from the 1700s and 1800s, the great age of the steam engine, when 'steaming' described both kettles and locomotives pushing forward under power. From that literal heat came two vivid informal extensions: in British usage 'steaming' can mean extremely angry, picturing a person so hot with rage that vapour seems to pour off them, and it can also mean very drunk. The spelling is regular, so the only thing to watch is keeping the silent pattern 'ea' from the base word 'steam' rather than writing 'steeming'.

How the word is built

• steam (Old English steam: vapour, hot mist)
• -ing (present participle / adjectival suffix)