What does emailing mean?
Emailing is the gerund form of the verb email, meaning to send a message, document, or file to someone via electronic mail. It describes one of the most routine communication acts of modern life, used everywhere from casual notes between friends ('I'll be emailing you the photos tonight') to formal business correspondence. The word carries no strong connotation of its own — its tone is set entirely by context — which makes it a versatile, register-neutral choice. As a gerund it can also act as a noun phrase subject: 'Emailing takes up a surprising share of the average workday.' Derived from the noun e-mail (short for electronic mail), which emerged in the 1970s alongside early computer networks, the term shed its hyphen as email became ubiquitous. Related expressions such as 'emailing back and forth' capture the sense of ongoing written exchange, distinguishing it from a single message sent.
verb (gerund/present participle)The act of sending a message or document to someone by electronic mail.
- Sending an electronic mail message or messages to someone.
- Corresponding with someone regularly by email over a period of time.
"She spent the morning emailing clients about the schedule change."
"He's been emailing the supplier all week about the delayed shipment."
"We kept emailing back and forth for months before finally meeting in person."
The word 'email' is barely half a century old, yet 'emailing' has become so routine that most of us do it dozens of times a day without ever noticing we're doing it.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of emailing
Emailing derives from email (originally styled e-mail), a compound of 'electronic' and 'mail', coined in the 1970s during the development of early computer networks such as ARPANET. The underlying noun 'mail' traces back through Middle English to Old French 'male', meaning a travelling bag or bundle of letters. As email became a verb in everyday speech, its present participle and gerund 'emailing' followed naturally, dropping the hyphen as the term became fully assimilated into English.
Related word forms
How emailing is actually used
Informal to neutral in register and universally understood in both British and American English; widely accepted in business writing, though some formal contexts still prefer 'write to' or 'contact'. The spelling 'e-mailing' is a common variant but increasingly dated.
Easily confused with emailing
Mailing means sending something by physical post, whereas emailing means sending it electronically.