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Added 8 October 2026

hang

/hæŋ/ verb

In Latin: pendeō Wiktionary

verb Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about hang at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

To be or remain suspended.
The lights hung from the ceiling.
To float, as if suspended.
The smoke hung in the room.
To veer in one direction.

noun

The way in which something hangs.
This skirt has a nice hang.
A mass of hanging material.
A slackening of motion.

noun

Cheap processed ham (cured pork), often made specially for sandwiches.

noun

Alternative spelling of Hang (“musical instrument”).

Origin

From Middle English hangen, hongen, from a fusion of Old English hōn (“to hang, be hanging”, transitive verb) and hangian (“to hang, cause to hang”, intransitive verb), respectively from the transitive verb Proto-West Germanic *hą̄han and the intransitive verb *hangēn; also probably influenced by Old Norse hengja (“to suspend”) and hanga (“to be suspended”); all from Proto-Germanic *hanhaną and *hangāną, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱenk- (“to waver, be in suspense”).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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