owing

The word 'owing' originates from the Middle English 'owen', meaning to possess, own, or be under obligation. This verb itself stems from the Old English 'āgan', which carried the dual senses of 'to have, to own' and 'to owe'. The Old English term is derived from the Proto-Germanic 'aiganą', meaning 'to possess'. The semantic shift from 'possession' to 'being indebted' is a classic example of how a concept can evolve from one side of a relationship to its opposite; what one possesses, one can also be obligated to return or pay for. The present participle form 'owing' solidified as an adjective in the 16th century, specifically denoting an outstanding debt, and later gave rise to the prepositional phrase 'owing to' to indicate causation.

The word 'owing' is a present participle and adjective derived from the verb 'owe'. It is not productively segmented into separate morphemes in its current form.