What does cutting mean?
"Cutting" serves several closely related purposes in English. Most fundamentally, it is the verb form of "cut", describing the act of slicing or severing something with a blade or sharp edge. As a noun, it has two well-established senses: in horticulture, a cutting is a piece of stem, leaf, or root removed from a parent plant so that it can grow into a new one — a technique gardeners have relied on for generations to reproduce roses, geraniums, and countless other species. In British usage, a cutting also refers to an article or excerpt clipped from a newspaper or magazine, what Americans would typically call a clipping. As an adjective, cutting describes language that wounds: a cutting remark is sharp, severe, and deliberately hurtful, making it a vivid word for harsh criticism. The word's range — physical, botanical, journalistic, and verbal — makes it both versatile and precise.
A piece cut off from a plant, used to propagate a new individual; also (chiefly British) an excerpt clipped from a newspaper or publication.
"The gardener rooted several cuttings from the fig tree over the winter."
The newspaper-clipping sense is primarily British; American speakers usually say 'clipping'.
Present participle and gerund of 'cut': performing the act of dividing or severing with a blade or sharp edge.
"She spent the afternoon cutting the hedge into neat shapes."
(Of a remark, tone, or criticism) Sharp, harsh, and wounding.
"His cutting assessment of the proposal stung everyone in the room."
The plural applies to both the horticultural sense (plant pieces) and the British journalistic sense (press excerpts); the verb and adjective uses have no plural form.
"She kept a folder of cuttings from every review her restaurant received."
A whole rose bush can be regrown from a stem snipped off and stuck in soil — which is why gardeners have been passing down favourite plants as 'cuttings' for centuries.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of cutting
The word "cutting" derives from "cut", whose ultimate origin is genuinely uncertain among etymologists; candidates include Scandinavian and Old French sources, though no derivation has been conclusively established. What is clear is that "cut" was established in Middle English by the late medieval period and its derivative forms, including "cutting", followed soon after. The horticultural sense of a propagated plant piece and the journalistic sense of a newspaper excerpt are natural extensions of the basic idea of a piece separated by cutting.
How cutting is actually used
In gardening contexts, 'cutting' almost always refers to plant propagation, and British English additionally uses it for press clippings where American English prefers 'clipping'. As an adjective it carries a strongly negative connotation, describing speech meant to wound.
Easily confused with cutting
Culling means selecting and removing items or animals from a group, whereas cutting means dividing or removing by use of a blade or, figuratively, reducing something.