Meanings
alternative -in
- colloquialpronunciation spellingPronunciation spelling of -ing.
"Jesus Christ! Was my folks refined. My mam she wouldn't think-a lettin' us young'uns call a pee pot a pee pot. A chamber's what she called it... And by God! Us young'uns had ter call the pee pot a chamber or git our God damn necks wrang."
1946, Elizabeth Metzger Howard, Before the Sun Goes Down, page 31
Origin
- Middle English-ynge
- English-in'
G‐dropped pronunciation of -ing with /n/ instead of /ŋ/. It is inherited from Middle English -ynge, -inge, -yng, -ing, from two sources: * the Old English present participle suffix -ende; * the Old English verbal noun suffix -ung/-ing. The two Old English suffixes became confused in Middle English; although the exact mechanism of this confusion is disputed, -in' is probably derived from -ung/-ing with loss of /ɡ/ under low stress rather than from -ende.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
-in'. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/-in'
“-in'.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/-in'. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “-in',” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/-in'.
Source: -in' on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.