Switching

How to spell switching

9 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce switching

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does switching mean?

1. verbChanging from one thing, position, or option to another.
2. nounThe act of opening, closing, or redirecting an electrical circuit or data path.

Switching in a sentence

• verb

  She is switching careers after a decade in accounting.

• noun

  The network engineer explained how packet switching routes data efficiently.

• verb

  Switching to a cheaper energy supplier saved them money each month.

• noun

  Rapid switching of the power supply caused a noticeable flicker in the lights.

Where does switching come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The base word switch first appears in English in the late 1500s, where it named a thin, flexible twig used as a riding whip; the origin is somewhat murky, but it is widely thought to come from a Low German or Dutch word such as swutsche, meaning a pliant rod or switch. Because a slender twig bends and flicks suddenly from side to side, the verb soon described any sharp, sudden movement, and from there the modern sense of changing from one thing to another took hold. In the nineteenth century, as electrical and railway technology spread, switch was applied to the lever or device that diverts a current or redirects a train, and switching became the ordinary word for that act of redirection. The present participle and gerund switching simply adds the -ing ending, keeping the silent-feeling tch cluster that gives the word its crisp sound. The spelling is generally stable, since the tch and the -ing both follow predictable English patterns.

How the word is built

• switch (to change or exchange)
• -ing (present participle / gerund suffix)