Trailing

How to spell trailing

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce trailing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does trailing mean?

1. verbFollowing or lagging behind someone or something, often at a distance or while losing.
2. adjectiveHanging down loosely or spreading along the ground rather than growing upright.

Trailing in a sentence

• verb

  The dog kept trailing a few steps behind its owner.

• adjective

  A trailing plant cascaded over the edge of the balcony pot.

• verb

  Our team spent the whole match trailing by two goals.

• adjective

  She tucked the trailing hem of her coat away from the wet pavement.

Where does trailing come from?

Language of origin: French

This word grows from the verb 'trail', which entered Middle English in the 1300s from Old French 'trailler', meaning to tow or to drag something along the ground. The Old French form is thought to descend from the Latin 'tragula', a kind of dragnet or sledge, which is itself tied to the verb 'trahere', meaning to draw or pull (the same root that gives us 'tractor' and 'attract'). The original idea of physically dragging behind broadened over time, so that 'trailing' came to describe anything hanging loosely, lagging behind, or following a path. The single 'l' in the stem is the spelling point worth fixing in memory: it stays single before '-ing', so the word is 'trailing', never 'trailling'. The everyday garden sense, as in trailing ivy that drags downward, keeps the literal early meaning beautifully intact.

How the word is built

• trail (to drag or follow behind)
• -ing (present participle / adjective suffix)