means The compulsive accumulation and refusal to discard possessions, often well past the point of usefulness — whether stockpiling goods or piling up clutter.

from From the Old English 'hord,' meaning a treasure or store laid away, with Germanic cousins like the Old High German 'hort.' The same root that once described a dragon's gleaming pile of gold now describes a spare room full of empty jars — the treasure stayed, the gleam negotiable. The verb 'to hoard' grew naturally from the noun, and the '-ing' simply caught the act in progress. (Note: this is unrelated to the British 'hoarding' meaning a large advertising billboard, which comes from a different and obscure source.)