Opning

Opning is an English noun that refers to the act of opening or to the state or result of something being open. In modern English, the standard spelling is opening, while opning appears chiefly as an archaic or dialectal variant found in older texts and in stylized writing that imitates early modern usage. The form opning is etymologically a variant of the gerund from the verb open, reflecting Middle English spellings where suffixes and vowel sounds were less standardized.

Historically, opning occurs in Middle English and early Modern English manuscripts to denote both physical openings—such as the opening of a gate or door—and figurative openings, including opportunities or ceremonial commencements. In legal, religious, and literary contexts, you may encounter phrases such as “the opning of Parliament” or “the opning of the gates,” typically in quotations from or imitations of earlier periods.

Today, opning is largely obsolete in standard prose and is generally limited to discussions of language history, dialect studies, or historical texts. When referring to contemporary openings, editors and writers prefer opening or entrance. In Scandinavian languages, cognate terms exist for opening (for example, åpning in Norwegian or öppning in Swedish), but they are orthographically distinct from the English opning.