What does empting mean?
Empting is the present participle and gerund of the everyday verb 'empty', describing the act of removing contents from a container, room, or space until nothing remains. It appears most often in continuous constructions — someone might be found empting the bins, draining a pool, or clearing out a drawer — and it carries a plain, practical register suited to household chores, logistics, and manual work. The word derives from Old English 'ǣmettig', originally meaning 'at leisure' or 'unoccupied', which drifted over time to mean containing nothing. Although perfectly correct, empting faces stiff competition from its longer variant 'emptying', which dominates modern writing; many readers encounter 'empting' chiefly when it is mistaken for the unrelated word 'exempting'. Still, in speech and informal prose, it remains a natural way to describe the satisfying business of making something empty.
verb (present participle/gerund)Empting is the present participle and gerund of the verb 'empty', meaning to remove the contents of something or to cause it to become empty.
- To remove the contents from a container, space, or place so that it becomes empty.
- To pour out or discharge the contents of something.
"She spent Saturday afternoon empting the cupboards and wiping down every shelf."
"The waiter was busy empting ashtrays and resetting the tables."
"By noon they were empting the last boxes from the moving van."
Despite looking like a typo for 'exempting', empting has been quietly clearing out drawers and bins in English since Middle English — it simply never got the fame its cousin 'empty' enjoys.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of empting
The verb 'empty' comes from Old English 'ǣmettig', meaning 'unoccupied' or 'at leisure', formed from 'ǣ-' (an intensive prefix related to 'aye') plus 'metta' (rest or leisure), making it cognate with German 'muotig' in spirit through the idea of freedom from occupation. Over the Middle English period the sense shifted from 'free, unoccupied' to 'containing nothing', and the verb took on its modern transitive use. Its Germanic relatives include Old Norse 'eymt', reflecting a shared North Sea Germanic root. The participial form 'empting' follows the regular modern conjugation.
Related word forms
How empting is actually used
Empting is used almost exclusively as the progressive form ('is empting', 'was empting') or as a gerund ('empting the dishwasher takes forever'). Some speakers prefer 'emptying'; both are standard, though 'emptying' is considerably more frequent in modern usage.
Easily confused with empting
'Exempting' means freeing someone from an obligation, while 'empting' means removing the contents of something; they differ by only one letter but are unrelated in meaning.