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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

pang.

A paroxysm of extreme physical pain or anguish; a feeling of sudden and transitory agony; a throe.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈpæŋ/[ˈpʰæŋ]/ˈpeɪ̯ŋ/Canada, US[ˈpʰeɪ̯ŋ]Canada, US

  1. A paroxysm of extreme physical pain or anguish; a feeling of sudden and transitory agony; a throe.

    in-plural · often

  2. A sudden sharp feeling of an emotional or mental nature, as of joy or sorrow.

    in-plural · often
Where this word comes from

The origin of the noun is uncertain; it is possibly derived from Middle English *pange, perhaps an altered form of prange, prōnge (“affliction, agony, pain; pointed instrument”) as in prongys of deth (“pangs of death, death throes”), from Anglo-Latin pronga, of unknown origin. Perhaps connected with Middle Dutch prange, pranghe (“instrument for pinching”) (modern Dutch prang (“horse restraint; fetter, neck iron”)), Middle Low German prange (“pole, stake; (possibly) kind of pillory or stocks”), Old English pyngan (“to prick”). The word may thus be related to prong. The verb is derived from the noun.

verb/ˈpæŋ/[ˈpʰæŋ]/ˈpeɪ̯ŋ/Canada, US[ˈpʰeɪ̯ŋ]Canada, US

  1. To cause to have great pain or suffering; to torment, to torture.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

The origin of the noun is uncertain; it is possibly derived from Middle English *pange, perhaps an altered form of prange, prōnge (“affliction, agony, pain; pointed instrument”) as in prongys of deth (“pangs of death, death throes”), from Anglo-Latin pronga, of unknown origin. Perhaps connected with Middle Dutch prange, pranghe (“instrument for pinching”) (modern Dutch prang (“horse restraint; fetter, neck iron”)), Middle Low German prange (“pole, stake; (possibly) kind of pillory or stocks”), Old English pyngan (“to prick”). The word may thus be related to prong. The verb is derived from the noun.

verb

  1. simple past of ping

    form-of · nonstandard · past
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.