Sticking

How to spell sticking

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce sticking

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does sticking mean?

1. verbCausing something to adhere to a surface, or remaining attached to it.
2. verbBecoming jammed or failing to move smoothly.

Sticking in a sentence

• She is sticking the new stamps onto the envelopes.

• The drawer keeps sticking whenever the weather turns damp.

• The label keeps sticking to my fingers instead of the jar.

• The back door has been sticking in its frame all week.

Where does sticking come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is the present participle of the verb 'stick', which descends from the Old English 'stician', meaning 'to pierce, stab, or remain fixed in place'. That verb belonged to a wider family of Germanic words, including the Old English noun 'sticca' for a thin rod or twig, all carrying the underlying idea of something pointed being thrust in and held fast. Over the centuries the sense broadened from literal piercing to the modern notions of adhering to a surface, becoming jammed, or refusing to move. The familiar gum-and-glue meaning of 'sticking' grew naturally from this idea of staying firmly attached. Because the base word ends in a single consonant after a short vowel, the spelling doubles nothing but simply adds the regular '-ing', which is why it stays neatly as 'sticking' rather than gaining an extra letter.

How the word is built

• stick (Old English stician: to pierce, to fix)
• -ing (present participle/gerund suffix)