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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

wing.

An appendage of an animal's (bird, bat, insect) body that enables it to fly.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/wɪŋ/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈwɪŋɡ/Midlands, Northern-England
  1. An appendage of an animal's (bird, bat, insect) body that enables it to fly.

    countable · uncountable
    The bird was flapping its wings
  2. A fin at the side of a ray or similar fish.

    countable · uncountable
  3. Human arm.

    countable · slang · uncountable
  4. Part of an aircraft that produces the lift for rising into the air.

    countable · uncountable
    I took my seat on the plane, overlooking the wing.
  5. One of the large pectoral fins of a flying fish.

    countable · uncountable
  6. One of the broad, thin, anterior lobes of the foot of a pteropod, used as an organ in swimming.

    countable · uncountable
  7. Any membranaceous expansion, such as that along the sides of certain stems, or one of the bracts on a dragon fruit, or of a fruit of the kind called samara.

    countable · uncountable
  8. Either of the two side petals of a papilionaceous flower.

    countable · uncountable
  9. A side shoot of a tree or plant; a branch growing up by the side of another.

    countable · uncountable
  10. Passage by flying; flight.

    countable · uncountable
    to take wing
  11. Limb or instrument of flight; means of flight or of rapid motion.

    countable · uncountable
  12. A part of something that is lesser in size than the main body, and located at the side, such as an extension from the main building.

    countable · uncountable
    the west wing of the hospital
    the wings of a corkscrew
  13. Either of two similar parts of something.

    countable · figuratively · uncountable
  14. One of the longer sides of crownworks or hornworks in fortification.

    countable · uncountable
  15. Ellipsis of prison wing, a cellblock; or prison or doing time by extension.

    Multicultural-London-English · abbreviation · alt-of · countable · ellipsis · slang · uncountable
  16. Anything that agitates the air as a wing does, or is put in winglike motion by the action of the air, such as a fan or vane for winnowing grain, the vane or sail of a windmill, the sail of a ship, etc.

    countable · uncountable
  17. A protruding piece of material on a menstrual pad or diaper to hold it in place and prevent leakage.

    countable · uncountable
  18. An ornament worn on the shoulder; a small epaulet or shoulder knot.

    countable · uncountable
  19. A cosmetic effect where eyeliner curves outward and ends at a point.

    countable · uncountable
  20. A faction of a political movement. Usually implies a position apart from the mainstream center position.

    countable · uncountable
  21. An organizational grouping in a military aviation service: A unit of command consisting of two or more squadrons and itself being a sub-unit of a group or station.

    UK · countable · uncountable
  22. An organizational grouping in a military aviation service: A larger formation of two or more groups, which in turn control two or more squadrons.

    US · countable · uncountable
  23. A panel of a car which encloses the wheel area, especially the front wheels.

    UK · countable · uncountable
  24. A platform on either side of the bridge of a vessel, normally found in pairs.

    countable · uncountable
  25. That part of the hold or orlop of a vessel which is nearest the sides. In a fleet, one of the extremities when the ships are drawn up in line, or when forming the two sides of a triangle.

    countable · uncountable
  26. A position in several field games on either side of the field.

    countable · uncountable
    Smith started the game in the centre of midfield, but moved to the wing after 30 minutes.
  27. A player occupying such a position; a winger.

    countable · uncountable
  28. A háček.

    countable · informal · rare · uncountable
  29. One of the unseen areas on the side of the stage in a theatre.

    countable · uncountable
  30. The insignia of a qualified pilot or aircrew member.

    countable · in-plural · uncountable
  31. A portable shelter consisting of a fabric roof on a frame, like a tent without sides.

    countable · uncountable
  32. On the enneagram, one of the two adjacent types to an enneatype that forms an individual's subtype of his or her enneatype.

    countable · uncountable
    Tom's a 4 on the enneagram, with a 3 wing.
  33. A group of plover.

    collective · countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English winge, wenge, from Old Norse vængr ("wing of a flying animal, wing of a building"; compare vængi (“ship's cabin”)), from Proto-Germanic *wēingijaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂weh₁- (“to blow”), thus related to wind. Cognate with Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Swedish vinge (“wing”), Elfdalian waingg (“wing”), Faroese vongur (“wing”), Icelandic vængur (“wing”), Norwegian Nynorsk veng (“wing”). Replaced native Middle English fither (from Old English fiþre, from Proto-Germanic *fiþriją), which merged with Middle English fether (from Old English feþer, from Proto-Germanic *feþrō). More at feather.

verb/wɪŋ/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈwɪŋɡ/Midlands, Northern-England
  1. To injure slightly (as with a gunshot), especially in the wing or arm.

    transitive
  2. To fly.

    intransitive
  3. To travel swiftly.

    intransitive
  4. To add a wing (extra part) to.

    transitive
  5. To act or speak extemporaneously; to improvise; to wing it.

    transitive
    I lost all my notes I'd made, so was partially winging the meeting.
  6. To throw.

    transitive
  7. To furnish with wings.

    transitive
  8. To transport with, or as if with, wings; to bear in flight, or speedily.

    transitive
  9. To traverse by flying.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English winge, wenge, from Old Norse vængr ("wing of a flying animal, wing of a building"; compare vængi (“ship's cabin”)), from Proto-Germanic *wēingijaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂weh₁- (“to blow”), thus related to wind. Cognate with Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Swedish vinge (“wing”), Elfdalian waingg (“wing”), Faroese vongur (“wing”), Icelandic vængur (“wing”), Norwegian Nynorsk veng (“wing”). Replaced native Middle English fither (from Old English fiþre, from Proto-Germanic *fiþriją), which merged with Middle English fether (from Old English feþer, from Proto-Germanic *feþrō). More at feather.

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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.