outing
UK[ˈaʊtɪŋ]US[ˈaʊt̬ɪŋ]
n
A short trip taken for pleasure, especially by a group of people.
n
An occasion when someone takes part in an activity or goes to a place, especially for the first time or after a period of absence.
n
The public exposure of someone's secret, especially their sexual orientation.
Morpheme Breakdown
out
ing
out
outward
ing
noun suffix
Etymology
The word 'outing' is a straightforward nominalization of the verb 'to go out'. Its core component, 'out', is a fundamental spatial adverb of Germanic origin, tracing back to Proto-Germanic 'ūt' and ultimately to the Proto-Indo-European root 'ud-', meaning "up, out, away." The addition of the '-ing' suffix, a productive noun-forming element in English, transforms the action into a concrete event or instance. Thus, the literal sense of "the act of going outward" evolved into the modern meaning of a short pleasure trip or excursion. A semantic extension in the late 20th century applied this concept of "bringing out" to the public revelation of a person's private information, most notably their sexual orientation.
Analysis
Structure: out (outward) + ing (noun suffix)
'out' is from Old English 'ūt', an adverb meaning "outward, away, abroad." 'ing' is a suffix from Old English '-ung' or '-ing', used to form nouns of action or result.
Examples
The school organized an outing to the natural history museum.
This game will be his first official outing as the team's new captain.
The actor's outing by the newspaper sparked a major debate about privacy.