What does videoing mean?
Videoing is the present participle of video and means recording images, motion, and often sound to create a video. It is used for everything from filming a documentary to capturing a message on a phone or recording a conversation over video chat. The word belongs to ordinary contemporary English and is especially convenient when the general activity matters more than the type of equipment used. It should not be confused with viewing, which means watching existing visual material. In British and American usage, filming is frequently preferred when referring to professional or cinematic production, while recording is often the clearest choice for informal use. Videoing can additionally carry the modern implication of sending a video to someone digitally, so “I videoed you” may describe either making a recording for them or simply transmitting one.
verb (present participle and gerund)Making a video recording of a person, event, place, or activity. It can also mean recording and sending a video message, especially by phone or over the internet.
- To record a person, event, place, or activity using video; in digital communication, to record and send a video message.
"We spent the afternoon videoing the restored building for a short documentary."
"The presenter was videoing a short introduction from her home office."
"They spent two hours videoing the interview for the documentary archive."
From the Latin sense “I see” to the camera in your pocket: videoing turns a moment into moving images.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of videoing
Videoing was formed in English by adding the present-participle ending -ing to video. Video developed in the modern period for electronic and recorded imagery and ultimately draws on Latin videō, meaning “I see,” a root also represented in visible, visual, and evidence. The verbal form videoing follows the productive English pattern of turning a noun into a verb and is now used for both recording footage and sending video messages.
How videoing is actually used
Videoing is standard in British and American English, though filming is often more idiomatic for professional or cinematic work and recording may be preferable for a phone or webcam. In messaging contexts, videoing someone can specifically mean sending that person a recorded video.
Easily confused with videoing
Videoing means making a video recording, whereas viewing means watching a recording or other visual material.