Taping

How to spell taping

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce taping

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does taping mean?

1. verbThe act of fastening, sealing, or attaching something using adhesive tape.
2. verbThe act of recording sound or video, originally onto magnetic tape.

Taping in a sentence

• She spent the afternoon taping shut the cardboard boxes before the move.

• The crew was taping the interview in a studio across town.

• Taping the loose cable to the floor stopped people from tripping over it.

• He admitted to taping the meeting without telling anyone.

Where does taping come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is the present participle of the verb 'tape', which traces back to the Old English 'tppe', meaning a narrow strip of woven fabric used for tying or binding. The same Germanic root gave related words in neighbouring languages for ribbons and bands. For centuries 'tape' meant only a thin strip of cloth, and the verb meant to bind or fasten with such a strip. In the twentieth century the noun expanded to cover adhesive tape and then magnetic recording tape, so the verb 'tape' came to mean both 'to fasten with tape' and 'to record onto tape'. The spelling trap lies in the suffix: because 'tape' ends in a silent e, that e is dropped and the p is not doubled, giving 'taping' with one p, which is easily confused with 'tapping' from the unrelated verb 'tap'.

How the word is built

• tape (a strip of material or a recording medium)
• -ing (present participle / gerund; the silent e of tape is dropped before -ing)