Why is a building called a building when its not even building?

Answer 1

Lighter side: Further back in history, what we now call "buildings" were indeed called "builts". Builders were satisfied with this title and thought it only made sense until they realized it was causing too much confusion amongst civilians. For example, when people called their parents about their trips to New York, the puzzlement was endless.

"Hey, mom. It's me. I can't believe I'm actually glancing at the Empire State Built."

"The Empire State Built what?"

"The Empire State Built..."

"Built what? Built house? Built bridge?"

"No, the Built!"

"Built what!?"

After dealing with years of families breaking up because of simple misunderstandings, the term for "builts" was finally officially changed to "buildings" instead. As it turned out, the word buildings left people less inclined to asking about the buildings themselves since they thought by it not yet being finished and still in the "building" process, whoever they asked might not have a clue to what was being built.

Answer 2

This question crops up because there are two word usages for this one word building. The suffix -ing at the end of the word has two possible functions:

# As a noun, such as in the sentence, "The building is finished." In this form of the word, the noun has been created from the verb to build, by adding the suffix -ing. Another example of this use is the word meaning from the verb to mean. # As a verb, such as in the sentence "She is building a kennel." This form of the verb to build, is the present participle of the verb: the action is current - it is happening as the speaker talks.

Answer 3

A portable building isn't a proper building because it is temporary. Building can have two different meanings, one being a building structure and the other being builders building something.