What does barbecuing mean?
Barbecuing is the practice of cooking food — most often meat — over live fire, hot coals, or a grill, usually outdoors and frequently at a leisurely pace over indirect heat. It functions both as the present participle of the verb 'barbecue' (they were barbecuing all afternoon) and as a verbal noun naming the activity itself (barbecuing is a summer tradition). The word carries strong connotations of informality, sunshine, and conviviality: it evokes backyards, family gatherings, and regional food cultures, from American Southern slow-smoked brisket to Korean and Argentinian traditions of cooking over flame. Though often used interchangeably with 'grilling', purists distinguish the two, reserving barbecuing for longer, slower, smoke-infused cooking. Derived ultimately from Taíno via Spanish 'barbacoa', the word is a small linguistic survivor of first contact between Europeans and Caribbean peoples, making this everyday culinary term unexpectedly historic.
Engaged in cooking food over an open flame, hot coals, or a grill, typically outdoors.
"They were barbecuing burgers when the guests started arriving."
Used in progressive constructions such as 'were barbecuing' or as an adjectival participle ('the barbecuing crowd').
The activity or art of cooking food slowly over live fire or coals, usually outdoors.
"For many families, barbecuing is the centrepiece of every Fourth of July celebration."
The word 'barbecue' traces back to the Taíno people of the Caribbean, who smoked meat on wooden racks called barbacoa — meaning your backyard cookout carries a word that survived from the 1490s.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of barbecuing
'Barbecuing' is the present participle of 'barbecue', which entered English in the mid-17th century from Spanish 'barbacoa', itself borrowed from the Taíno language of the Caribbean, where it named a wooden framework used for smoking and drying meat over fire. Early English accounts of the West Indies adopted the term for both the apparatus and the cooking method, and by the 18th century it had broadened to mean any social occasion featuring roasted meat cooked outdoors. Related borrowings include 'boucan' and its derivative 'buccaneer', which share the same Caribbean smoke-cooking heritage.
Related word forms
How barbecuing is actually used
'Barbecuing' is informal-to-neutral in register and strongly associated with warm weather, outdoor gatherings, and casual socialising. In American English it is often used loosely for any outdoor grilling; in the American South and parts of Texas, 'barbecue' enthusiasts reserve it specifically for slow-cooking meat over wood smoke, sometimes treating quick grilling as a separate (and lesser) practice. The spelling 'barbequing' is a common variant but 'barbecuing' is preferred.
Easily confused with barbecuing
Grilling uses direct high heat over a short time, whereas barbecuing typically means slower cooking over lower, often indirect heat, though the two terms are frequently used interchangeably in everyday American English.
Braaiing is the South African term and social tradition of grilling meat outdoors, broadly similar to barbecuing but culturally distinct.