Tapping

How to spell tapping

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce tapping

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does tapping mean?

1. verbStriking something gently and repeatedly, producing a light sound.
2. verbDrawing liquid, energy, or resources from a source, often by opening it.

Tapping in a sentence

• The constant tapping of rain on the window kept her awake.

• The farmers were tapping the maple trees for syrup in early spring.

• He was tapping his pen against the desk during the meeting.

• The company is tapping new markets in the region for growth.

Where does tapping come from?

Language of origin: French

This is the present participle of the verb 'tap', which in its 'strike lightly' sense came into Middle English around the 1300s from the Old French 'taper', meaning 'to strike or hit', a word thought to be imitative of the small sound a light blow makes. A separate but related sense of 'tap', meaning to draw liquid from a cask, traces instead to the Old English 'tæppa', a peg or spigot fitted into a barrel, and that is the sense behind drawing off sap, fluid, or resources. Both verbs add the ending '-ing' to describe the ongoing action, and because 'tap' ends in a single short vowel followed by one consonant, the spelling rule doubles the 'p' before '-ing'. That doubling is precisely the spelling trap: dropping one 'p' gives 'taping', which belongs to the unrelated verb 'tape'. The figurative idea of 'tapping into' a supply grew naturally from the image of opening a cask to let its contents flow.

How the word is built

• tap (strike lightly / draw from)
• -p- (doubled consonant after a short vowel)
• -ing (present participle / gerund)