Towing

How to spell towing

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce towing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does towing mean?

1. verbPulling a vehicle, trailer, or load behind another using a rope, chain, or bar.

Towing in a sentence

• The truck was towing a horse trailer up the steep hill.

• Towing a caravan in strong wind requires extra care.

Where does towing come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The verb 'tow' descends from the Old English 'togian', meaning 'to drag, pull, or draw along', which belonged to a wider family of Germanic words for hauling, including the Old Norse 'toga' and Old High German 'zogon'. The same ancient root also gave English the word 'tug', which keeps the original sense of a hard, steady pull. For centuries 'tow' was strongly associated with hauling boats along a river or canal by a line from the bank, which is why the path beside a canal is still called a towpath. As road vehicles arrived, the word naturally extended to pulling a broken-down car or a trailer behind another vehicle. The present participle 'towing' is formed simply by adding '-ing'; the spelling trap is the silent way the 'ow' is heard as a long 'oh', tempting writers to drop the 'w' or to insert an unnecessary 'e' before the ending.

How the word is built

• tow (root: to pull or drag by a chain or rope)
• -ing (present participle / gerund suffix)