whopping
Meaning
Extremely large or great in size, amount, or degree.
Structure
Usage
The company reported a whopping profit increase of 300 percent this quarter.
She told a whopping great lie that nobody believed.
He won the tournament by a whopping margin of twenty points.
Etymology
The word 'whopping' originates from the verb 'whop', an onomatopoeic term from the 14th century meaning to beat, strike, or thrash, likely imitating the sound of a heavy impact. The present participle suffix '-ing' was added, creating an adjective that initially described something as being of a striking or thumping nature. Over time, this sense of forceful impact evolved metaphorically to describe something so large or extraordinary that it figuratively 'strikes' one with its magnitude, solidifying its modern meaning as an emphatic intensifier for size or amount.
Analysis
- whop: Likely of imitative origin (echoic of a heavy blow or fall), functioning as a verb root. - ing: From Old English '-ende', a suffix forming present participles and adjectives.