ping pong

See also: pingpong and ping-pong

English

Alternative forms

• ping-pong, pingpong

Etymology

Onomatopoeic. The name “ping-pong” was in wide use before British manufacturer J. Jaques & Son Ltd trademarked it in 1901. Jaques sold the rights to the “ping-pong” name in the United States to Parker Brothers. Registered in the United States in 1930, Ping-Pong (with dash) is still a registered wordmark of Parker Brothers, Inc. Contrary to a common misconception, the word does not originate from Chinese 乒乓 (pīngpāng), though there are possibilities that the coiners encountered Chinese themselves.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɪŋˌpɒŋ/, /ˈpiŋˌpɒŋ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɪŋˌpɔŋ/, /ˈpɪŋˌpɑŋ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒŋ

Noun

ping pong (countable and uncountable, plural ping pongs)

1. Table tennis.

   Synonyms: (archaic) flim-flam, (archaic) whiff-whaff, (precursor) gossima

   • 1900, Daily Chronicle‎^[1], published 1905, May 8, page 6/6:

     Our correspondent seems to hope that the unclean, playing Ping-Pong with the clean, will become unpleasantly conscious of his uncleanness and reform.

2. (figuratively) An instance of figuratively bouncing something or someone back and forth.
   • 1909, Thaddeus L. Bolton, “On the Efficacy of Consciousness”, in Frederick James Eugene Woodbridge, Wendell T. Bush, editors, The Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Methods‎^[2], volume 6, New York: The Science Press, page 424:

     To be conscious is to be subject to just such a ping-pong of recurring nervous activities that effect muscle tone on one side and brain discharge on the other.

3. (UK politics) The exchange of proposed amendments between the two Houses of Parliament, particularly at the end of a session when compromises have to be made to complete the legislative process within the limited time available.
4. (dated) A size of photograph a little larger than a postage stamp.
   • 1909, James Boniface Schriever, Commercial, press, scientific photography, page 401:

     As only bust or half-length figures are all the ping pong photographer attempts, only one or two small plain backgrounds is all that is necessary. Generally two are used, a light one and a dark one.

5. (music) A small, shallow steelpan drum.
   • 2012, Angela Smith, Steel Drums and Steelbands: A History, page 158:

     Most ping pongs were 35- to 45-gallon drums. The larger drum had room for more notes; the tones were also louder and clearer and could be sustained longer.

Derived terms

• aerial ping pong
• beer pong
• ping pong ball
• ping-pong diplomacy
• ping-pongist
• ping pong show

 

Descendants

• → Chinese: 乒乓球 (pīngpāngqiú)
• → Greek: πινγκ πονγκ (pingk pongk)
• → Italian: ping pong
• → Japanese: ピンポン (pin pon)
• → Portuguese: pingue-pongue
• → Russian: пинг-понг (ping-pong)
• → Spanish: ping pong

Translations

table tennis — see table tennis

Verb

ping pong (third-person singular simple present ping pongs, present participle ping ponging, simple past and past participle ping ponged)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To figuratively bounce or be bounced back and forth.
   1. (transitive, medicine) To refer (a patient) unnecessarily to a number of clinics or practitioners as a form of fraud.
2. (intransitive) To play the game of ping pong.

Further reading

• Ping Pong on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English ping pong.

Noun

ping pong m (uncountable)

1. ping pong

   Synonyms: ping-pong, tennis da tavolo, tennis tavolo

Further reading

• ping pong in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from English ping pong, originally a trademark. See more at ping pong.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pimˈpon/ [pĩmˈpõn]
• Rhymes: -on

Noun

ping pong m (uncountable)

1. (sports) ping pong

   Synonym: tenis de mesa

2. (by extension) a back and forth or volatile fluctuation of anything

   un ping pong emocional ― an emotional fluctuation

Derived terms

• pelota de ping pong