Meanings
ing1
plural ings
- now only in dialectsA meadow, especially a low meadow near a river; water meadow.
Ings, glens, and fens of the Highlands.
2 more examples
Bill for dividing and inclosing certain open common fields, ings, common pastures, and other commonable lands.
1773, Journals of the House of Commons[There] lay an extent of meadow grounds, in ings, to afford a supply of hay.
1804, Marshall (William), On the Landed Property of England, possibly quoting an earlier work
ing2
Ing3
- A surname
Origin
ing · noun
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂énkos“a bend; curve; bowl; hollow; dell; glen”
- Proto-Germanic*angijō“meadow”
- Old Englishing
- Middle Englishing
- Englishing
From Middle English ing, ynge, enge, from Old English ing, *eng (“a meadow; ing”), from Proto-Germanic *angijō (“meadow”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂énkos (“a bend; curve; bowl; hollow; dell; glen”), from *h₂enk- (“to bend; curve; bow”). Cognate with Scots eng (“ing; meadow”), Dutch eng (“pasture; farmland”), Danish eng (“meadow”), Swedish äng (“meadow; field”), Norwegian eng (“meadow”), Faroese ong (“grassland; meadow; pasture”), Icelandic eng (“a meadow”), Icelandic engi (“a meadow; meadowland”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →ing · noun
From Pitman em and en, which it is related to phonetically and graphically, and the sound it represents. The change in vowel probably reflects the familiar suffix -ing.
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with ing
Anagrams
Cite this entry
ing. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ing
“ing.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ing. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ing,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ing.
Source: ing on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.