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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

whiting.

A fine white chalk used in paints, putty, whitewash etc.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈwaɪtɪŋ//ˈʍaɪtɪŋ/
  1. A fine white chalk used in paints, putty, whitewash etc.

    uncountable · usually
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱweyt- Proto-Germanic *hwītaz Proto-West Germanic *hwīt Old English hwīt Middle English whit English white English -ing English whiting From white + -ing.

noun/ˈwaɪtɪŋ//ˈʍaɪtɪŋ/
  1. A fish, Merlangius merlangus (family Gadidae), similar to cod, found in the North Atlantic; English whiting (US).

  2. Any fish of many species that resemble Merlangius merlangus: in family Gadidae: Any of several marine fish found in North American coastal waters, including hakes (genus Merluccius), especially Merluccius bilinearis (silver hake).

    US
  3. Any fish of many species that resemble Merlangius merlangus: in family Gadidae: Alaska pollock (Gadus chalcogrammus, syn. Theragra chalcogramma).

    Canada
  4. Any fish of many species that resemble Merlangius merlangus: in family Gadidae: A blue whiting (Micromesistius poutassou), a marine fish of the Northern Hemisphere.

  5. Any fish of many species that resemble Merlangius merlangus: in family Gadidae: A southern blue whiting (Micromesistius australis), a marine fish of the Southern Hemisphere.

  6. Any fish of many species that resemble Merlangius merlangus: in family Sillaginidae, smelt-whitings, inhabiting Indo-Pacific marine coasts, many species of which are commercially important whitefish.

  7. Any fish of many species that resemble Merlangius merlangus: in family Sciaenidae, Menticirrhus americanus (Carolina whiting, king whiting, southern kingcroaker, and southern kingfish) found along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the United States.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English whityng, whytyng, perhaps an alteration of Old English hwītling (“whiting”), remodelled after white + -ing (diminutive suffix). Related to the colour white. Cognate with Dutch wijting (“whiting”), Old Norse hvítingr (“a kind of whale”).

verb/ˈwaɪtɪŋ//ˈʍaɪtɪŋ/
  1. present participle and gerund of white

    form-of · gerund · participle · present
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱweyt- Proto-Germanic *hwītaz Proto-West Germanic *hwīt Old English hwīt Middle English whit English white English -ing English whiting From white + -ing.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.