ing
nounEtymology 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.
1
The letter for the ng sound /ŋ/ in Pitman shorthand.
ing
nounUS, UK /ɪŋ/
Etymology 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”).
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A meadow, especially a low meadow near a river; water meadow.
Now only in dialects
- Ings, glens, and fens of the Highlands.
- Bill for dividing and inclosing certain open common fields, ings, common pastures, and other commonable lands.1773, Journals of the House of Commons:
1 more example
- [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