Meanings
sailing1
- gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of sail
- not comparableTravelling by ship.
sailing2
plural sailings
- countableuncountableNavigation; the skill needed to operate and navigate a vessel.
- countableA scheduled voyage by a ferry or ship.
'Then I should like a full list of the warships in Pentland Harbour, recent sailings, and those expected, please. The "Navy List" I suppose you have here?'
1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries1 more example
New ships were built to the order of the Great Eastern Railway, and the service frequency increased, until March 1879, saw a sailing every weekday to Rotterdam, and a thrice-weekly service to Antwerp.
1951 November, K. Westcott Jones, “Parkeston Quay and the Antwerp Continental Service”, in Railway Magazine, page 760
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
sailing · verb, adjective
- Middle Englishsaylinge
- Englishsailing
From Middle English saylinge, seilinge, variants of sailende, seilende; equivalent to sail + -ing. Cognate with Dutch zeilend (“sailing”).
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →sailing · noun
- Proto-Germanic*siglingō“sailing”
- Proto-West Germanic*siglingu, *seglungu
- Old Englishseġling, seġlung“sailing”
- Middle Englishseyling, sayling
- Englishsailing
From Middle English seyling, sayling, from Old English seġling, seġlung (“sailing”), from Proto-West Germanic *siglingu, *seglungu, from Proto-Germanic *siglingō (“sailing”); equivalent to sail + -ing. Cognate with Middle Low German sēgelinge (“sailing”), Swedish segling (“sailing”), Icelandic sigling (“sailing”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic إِبْحَار
- إِبْحَار (ʔibḥār)motion across water
Bulgarian ветроходен, ветроходство
- ветроходен (vetrohoden)travelling by ship
- ветроходство (vetrohodstvo)motion across water
- ветроходство (vetrohodstvo)skill to operate a vessel
- отплаване (otplavane)time of departure
Catalan navegació a vela
- navegació a velamotion across water
Chinese Mandarin 航行
- 航行 (hángxíng)motion across water
Czech plachtění
- plachtěnímotion across water
Dutch zeilen
- zeilenmotion across water
Esperanto velanta, veladi
- velantatravelling by ship
- veladitravelling by ship
- navigitravelling by ship
- lofitravelling by ship
- ŝipiritravelling by ship
- veladomotion across water
- lofadomotion across water
- navigadomotion across water
- ŝipiromotion across water
Finnish purjehtiva, purjehdus-
- purjehtivatravelling by ship
- purjehdus-travelling by ship
- purjehtiminenmotion across water
- navigointiskill to operate a vessel
- lähtöaikatime of departure
- purjehdusscheduled voyage
French navigation la voile, navigation à voile
- navigation la voilemotion across water
- navigation à voilemotion across water
German segeln, Segeln
- segelntravelling by ship
- Segelnmotion across water
Greek ιστιοπλοΐα, ιστιοπλοΐα
- ιστιοπλοΐα (istioploḯa)motion across water
- ιστιοπλοΐα (istioploḯa)skill to operate a vessel
Hebrew שַׁיִט, שֵׁיט מִפְרָשִׂים
- שַׁיִט (shayit)travelling by ship
- שֵׁיט מִפְרָשִׂים (sheit mifrasim)motion across water
Hungarian vitorlázás
- vitorlázásmotion across water
Italian navigazione
- navigazionemotion across water
Japanese 帆走
- 帆走 (hansō)motion across water
Korean 항해
- 항해 (hanghae)motion across water
Latin velificatio
- velificatiomotion across water
Norwegian seilende
- seilendetravelling by ship
Norwegian Bokmål seilas, seiltur
- seilasmotion across water
- seilturmotion across water
- seilingmotion across water
- seilingscheduled voyage
Polish żeglować, żeglowanie
- żeglowaćtravelling by ship
- żeglowaniemotion across water
- żeglarstwomotion across water
Portuguese navegação, vela
- navegaçãomotion across water
- velamotion across water
Russian па́русный спорт
- па́русный спорт (párusnyj sport)motion across water
Spanish velerista, navegación
- veleristatravelling by ship
- navegaciónmotion across water
- navegación a velamotion across water
- velerismomotion across water
- náuticaskill to operate a vessel
Swedish seglande, segling
- seglandetravelling by ship
- seglingmotion across water
Tagalog paglalayag
- paglalayagtravelling by ship
Tamil படகோட்டம்
- படகோட்டம் (paṭakōṭṭam)travelling by ship
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with sailing
Anagrams
Cite this entry
sailing. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sailing
“sailing.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sailing. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sailing,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sailing.
Source: sailing on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.