gerund

American  

[jer-uhnd] / ˈdʒɛr ənd /

noun

Grammar.

1. (in certain languages, as Latin) a form regularly derived from a verb and functioning as a noun, having in Latin all case forms but the nominative, as Latin dicendī genitive, dicendō dative, ablative, etc., “saying.”

2. the English -ing form of a verb when functioning as a noun, as writing in Writing is easy.

3. a form similar to the Latin gerund in meaning or function.

---

gerund British  

/ ˈdʒɛrənd, dʒɪˈrʌndɪəl /

noun

1. a noun formed from a verb, denoting an action or state. In English, the gerund, like the present participle, is formed in -ing

   the living is easy

---

gerund Cultural  

1. A form of a verb that ends in -ing and operates as a noun in a sentence: “Thinking can be painful.”

---

Grammar

See me.

Other Word Forms

• gerundial adjective
• gerundially adverb
• nongerundial adjective

Etymology

Origin of gerund

First recorded in 1505–15; from Late Latin gerundium, Latin gerundum “that which is to be carried on,” equivalent to ger(ere) “to bear, carry on” + -undum, variant of -endum, gerund suffix

Compare meaning

How does gerund compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• gerund vs. participle
• gerund vs. infinitive
• present participle vs. gerund

Example Sentences

“TiVoing,” meaning to record a show for later viewing, even became one of those generic gerunds, like “Xeroxing” or “Googling.”

From Los Angeles Times

Yglesias named his Substack “Slow Boring,” after a 1919 lecture by the German sociologist Max Weber titled “Politics as a Vocation,” wherein “boring” is not an adjective of dullness but a gerund of diligence.

From Washington Post

His intentional use of a gerund in the title allows “entertaining” to be read as both doing a thing and being a thing.

From New York Times

It’s also one of the activities Koenig recommends for parents to introduce their kids to “musiking,” her preferred gerund for describing the act of playing with melody, rhythm and movement.

From Washington Post

The “being” in “being with my students” is a gerund and gets the possessive pronoun “my.”

From Washington Post