Etymology

-ing

Today it means: As true nouns. Full definition →

Middle English -ing ← Old English -ing ← Proto-West Germanic *-ingu
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-ing · suffix1

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*-ingō, *-ungō“-ing”
  2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*-ingu
  3. Old English · inherited from-ing
  4. Middle English · inherited from-ing
  5. English today-ing

Inherited from Middle English -ing, -yng, -ynge, from Old English -ing, -ung (“-ing”, suffix forming nouns from verbs), from Proto-West Germanic *-ingu, *-ungu, from Proto-Germanic *-ingō, *-ungō (“-ing”). Cognates Cognate with Scots -in, -in', -ing (“-ing”), Yola -een (“-ing”), Saterland Frisian -enge (“-ing”), Dutch -ing (“-ing”), German and Luxembourgish -ung (“-ing”), Danish -ing, -ning (“-ing”), Icelandic, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish -ing (“-ing”), French -ange (“-ing”). Unrelated to Brahui -اِنْگ (-iṅg, “a suffix used to form infinitive or verbal noun from the base verb; -ing”).

-ing · suffix2

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*-onts
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*-andz
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*-andī
  4. Old English · inherited from-ende
  5. Middle English · derived from-inge
  6. English today-ing

From Middle English -inge, -ynge, alteration of earlier -inde, -ende, -and (see -and), from Old English -ende (present participle ending), from Proto-West Germanic *-andī, from Proto-Germanic *-andz (present participle ending), from Proto-Indo-European *-onts. Cognate with West Frisian -end, Dutch -end, Afrikaans -ende, German -end, Low German -end, Danish -ende, Swedish -ande, Icelandic -andi, Gothic -𐌰𐌽𐌳𐍃 (-ands), -𐍉𐌽𐌳𐍃 (-ōnds), Latin -ans, -ant-, Ancient Greek -ων (-ōn), Sanskrit -अन्त् (-ant), Persian ـنده (-ande), Polish -ący, -ąc, Czech -oucí, Ukrainian -учий (-učyj), Serbo-Croatian -ući/-ући. More at -and.

-ing · suffix3

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*-ingaz
  2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*-ing
  3. Old English · inherited from-ing
  4. Middle English · inherited from-ynge
  5. English today-ing

From Middle English -ynge, from Old English -ing, from Proto-West Germanic *-ing, from Proto-Germanic *-ingaz. Akin to Old Norse -ingr.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.