Cleaning

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /ˈkliːnɪŋ/

Definitions

1. The act of removing dirt, stains, or impurities from surfaces or objects ; the process of arranging or putting things in order to create a neat space
2. The action of making something free from dirt or contamination ; working to organize or straighten a space or collection of items
3. Removing unwanted substances or messes to restore cleanliness ; the activity of decluttering or systematizing to improve neatness

Etymology: Before it meant scrubbing a kitchen floor, the English ancestor of "clean" meant "dainty" or "fine," and it was not originally about dirt at all. Old English "clǣne" meant "clean, pure, clear," and its deeper roots, reconstructed for Proto-West Germanic as "*klainī," carried the sense of small and delicate. That is the surprise: the sense of tidiness came later, and the older meaning survives in the German and Dutch "klein," which means "small." The shift from "small and fine" to "free from dirt" makes sense once you see how a delicate, neat thing is also a thing kept unspoiled. Many related Germanic words still carry the older idea of smallness or weakness, such as Icelandic "klénn," which can mean feeble or poor, and Swedish "klen," meaning weak. The "-ing" ending is simply the common English suffix that turns a verb into a noun for an activity, so "cleaning" names the whole process of making something clean, including the work of tidying a room.

Synonyms: cleansing, washing, scrubbing, tidying, sanitizing

Antonyms: messing, dirtying, soiling