sting.
A bump left on the skin after having been stung.
Meaning & usage
A bump left on the skin after having been stung.
Look at this nasty hornet sting: it's turned blue!
A puncture made by an insect or arachnid in an attack, usually including the injection of venom.
She died from a bee sting.
A pointed portion of an insect or arachnid used for attack.
A sharp, localized pain primarily on the epidermis.
That plant will give a little sting if you touch it.
A sharp-pointed hollow hair seated on a gland which secretes an acrid fluid, as in nettles.
The thrust of a sting into the flesh; the act of stinging; a wound inflicted by stinging.
A police operation in which the police pretend to engage in criminal activity in order to catch a criminal.
The criminal gang was caught after a successful sting.
A short percussive phrase played by a drummer to accent the punchline in a comedy show.
A brief sequence of music used in films, TV, and video games as a form of scenic punctuation or to identify the broadcasting station.
A support for a wind tunnel model which extends parallel to the air flow.
The harmful or painful part of something.
A goad; incitement.
The concluding point of an epigram or other sarcastic saying.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English styng, sting, stynge, stenge, from Old English sting, stincg (“a sting, stab, thrust made with a pointed instrument; the wound made by a stab or sting”), from Proto-Germanic *stingaz; possibly also from Old English stynġ, from Proto-Germanic *stungiz.
To hurt, usually by introducing poison or a sharp point, or both.
To puncture with the stinger.
A mosquito stung me on the arm.
To hurt, to be in pain (physically or emotionally).
My eyes are stinging from the chopped onions.
My hand stings after knocking on the door so long.
To cause harm or pain to.
I thought I could park in front of the hotel, but they stung me for five pounds!
Where this word comes from
From Middle English stingen, from Old English stingan, from Proto-Germanic *stinganą. Compare Swedish and Icelandic stinga.
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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.