Taxing

How to spell taxing

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce taxing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does taxing mean?

1. adjectiveRequiring a great deal of physical or mental effort; exhausting or burdensome.
2. verbPresent participle of tax: levying a charge or duty on income, goods, or activity.

Taxing in a sentence

• adjective

  The long commute proved more taxing than the job itself.

• verb

  The government is considering taxing sugary drinks to fund health programmes.

• adjective

  Caring for a newborn around the clock is emotionally taxing.

• verb

  The council justified taxing second homes at a higher rate.

Where does taxing come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word grows from the verb 'tax', which English took from Old French 'taxer' in the early 1300s, itself drawn from the Latin 'taxare', meaning 'to assess, to appraise, or to handle'. The Latin verb was a frequentative of 'tangere', 'to touch', so the underlying picture is one of repeatedly touching or feeling something to judge its worth. From the financial sense of assessing what someone owes, English developed a figurative use in which to 'tax' a person was to lay a heavy demand on their strength or patience. The present participle 'taxing' then settled into an adjective describing anything that drains effort, energy, or endurance. The same 'tangere' root quietly survives in words such as 'tangent' and 'contact', a useful reminder that the single 'x' in taxing simply carries over the plain spelling of tax with the ordinary -ing ending added.

How the word is built

• tax (from Latin taxare: to assess, appraise)
• -ing (adjective/participle suffix)