pang

See also: Pang, pāng, páng, pǎng, pàng, and pang-

English

WOTD – 14 April 2019

Etymology 1

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.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: păng; IPA^(key): /pʰæŋ/

  • Audio (General Australian):

    (file)

• (General American) enPR: pāng; IPA^(key): /peɪŋ/
• Rhymes: -æŋ, -eɪŋ

Noun

pang (plural pangs)

1. (often in the plural) A paroxysm of extreme physical pain or anguish; a feeling of sudden and transitory agony; a throe.
   • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii], page 137, column 1:

     War[wick]. See how the pangs of death do make him grin. / Sal[isbury]. Diſturbe him not, let him paſſe peaceably.

   • c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv], page 269:

     He is knight dubb'd with vnhatche'd Rapier, and on carpet conſideration, but he is a diuell in priuate brall, soules and bodies hath he diuorc'd three, and his incenſement at this moment is ſo implacable, that ſatisfaction can be none, but by pangs of death and ſepulcher: Hob, nob, is his word: giu't or take't.

   • a. 1722, Matthew Prior, “Written in Lady Howe’s Ovid’s Epistles”, in The Poetical Works of Matthew Prior, Esq. […], Edinburgh: Printed by Mundell and Son, […], published 1793, →OCLC; republished in Robert Anderson, editor, The Works of the British Poets. […], volume VII, London: Printed for John & Arthur Arch; and for Bell & Bradfute, and J. Mundell & Co. Edinburgh, 1795, →OCLC, page 456, column 1:

     But, oh! what pangs torment the deſtin’d heart, / That feels the wound, yet dare not ſhow the dart; / What eaſe could Ovid to his ſorrows give, / Who muſt not ſpeak, and therefore cannot live?

   • 1862, Christina Rossetti, “In the Round Tower at Jhansi, June 8, 1857”, in Goblin Market and Other Poems, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, London: Macmillan & Co., […], →OCLC, page 31:

     "Will it hurt much?"—"No, mine own: / I wish I could bear the pang for both." / "I wish I could bear the pang alone: / Courage, dear, I am not loth."

   • 1888 May, Oscar Wilde, “The Nightingale and the Rose”, in The Happy Prince and Other Tales, London: David Nutt, […], →OCLC, pages 37–38:

     So the Nightingale pressed closer against the thorn, and the thorn touched her heart, and a fierce pang of pain shot through her. Bitter, bitter was the pain, and wilder and wilder grew her song, for she sang of the Love that is perfected by Death, of the Love that dies not in the tomb.

2. (often in the plural) A sudden sharp feeling of an emotional or mental nature, as of joy or sorrow.
   • 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Five. The End of It.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, pages 158–159:

     He had not gone far, when coming on towards him he beheld the portly gentleman, who had walked into his counting-house the day before, and said, "Scrooge and Marley's, I believe?" It sent a pang across his heart to think how this old gentleman would look upon him when they met; but he knew what path lay straight before him, and he took it.

   • 1867 February, [Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.], “The Guardian Angel”, in The Atlantic Monthly. A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics, volume XIX, number CXII, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, […], →OCLC, chapter VII (Myrtle’s Letter.—The Young Men’s Pursuit.), page 141, column 2:

     He was startled with a piece of information which gave him such an exquisite pang of delight that he could hardly keep the usual quiet of his demeanor.

   • 1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 18:

     Unfortunately, in the hurry of leaving home, he had forgotten to provide himself with food, and at lunch time found himself attacked by the pangs of hunger.

Derived terms

• birth pang
• birth pangs
• breast pang
• hunger pang
• hunger pangs
• pang of conscience

 

Translations

paroxysm of extreme physical pain or anguish

• Bulgarian: силна болка f (silna bolka), спазъм (bg) m (spazǎm)
• Czech: bodavá bolest, záchvat bolesti
• Dutch: pijnscheut (nl), steek (nl)
• German: Schmerz (de) m, Stechen (de) n
• Greek: οξύς πόνος m (oxýs pónos), σουβλιά (el) f (souvliá)
• Irish: géaróg f, arraing f
• Ladino: estilo, stilo
• Plautdietsch: Stäakj f
• Russian: внезапная (ru) (vnezapnaja), боль (ru) f (bolʹ), уко́л (ru) (ukól)
• Spanish: punzada (es) f

sudden sharp feeling of a mental or emotional nature

• Dutch: aanval (nl)
• German: Anfall (de) f, Stich (de) m
• Greek: σκίρτημα (el) n (skírtima)
• Portuguese: surto (pt)
• Russian: угрызе́ние (ru) n (ugryzénije)

Verb

pang (third-person singular simple present pangs, present participle panging, simple past and past participle panged)

1. (transitive) To cause to have great pain or suffering; to torment, to torture.
   • 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii], page 214, column 2:

     Yet if that quarrell, Fortune, to diuorce / It from the bearer, 'tis a ſufferance, panging / As ſoule and bodies ſeuering.

   • 1919, Christopher Morley, “On Unanswering Letters”, in Mince Pie: Adventures on the Sunny Side of Grub Street, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC, page 40:

     And perhaps a not altogether false little story could be written about a man who never visited those most dear to him, because it panged him so to say good-bye when he had to leave.

Translations

to cause to have great pain or suffering — see also torment,‎ torture

• Czech: trápit (cs) impf, trýznit impf, soužit (cs) impf
• Italian: affliggere (it)
• Russian: му́чить (ru) (múčitʹ), коло́ть (ru) (kolótʹ), разрыва́ть (ru) (razryvátʹ)

Further reading

• “pang”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “pang”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Etymology 2

Verb

pang

1. (nonstandard) simple past of ping

See also

• pang seh

Estonian

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *panka. Possibly cognate with Tundra Enets poggo (“handle”).

Noun

pang (genitive pange, partitive pange)

1. bucket

   Synonym: ämber

Declension

Declension of pang (ÕS type 22i/külm, length gradation)
		singular	plural
nominative		pang	panged
accusative	nom.
	gen.	pange
genitive			pangede
partitive		pange	pangi pangesid
illative		pange pangesse	pangedesse pangisse
inessive		panges	pangedes pangis
elative		pangest	pangedest pangist
allative		pangele	pangedele pangile
adessive		pangel	pangedel pangil
ablative		pangelt	pangedelt pangilt
translative		pangeks	pangedeks pangiks
terminative		pangeni	pangedeni
essive		pangena	pangedena
abessive		pangeta	pangedeta
comitative		pangega	pangedega

References

• pang in Sõnaveeb (Eesti Keele Instituut)

Further reading

• “pang”, in [EKSS] Eesti keele seletav sõnaraamat [Descriptive Dictionary of the Estonian Language] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2009

Hokkien

For pronunciation and definitions of pang – see 幫 (“group; gang; etc.”). (This term is the pe̍h-ōe-jī form of 幫).

Hungarian

Etymology

Of uncertain origin, possibly from an onomatopoeic stem (compare kong (“to resound”)). Formed with -g (frequentative verb-forming suffix). First attested in 1792.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈpɒŋɡ]
• Rhymes: -ɒŋɡ

Verb

pang

1. (intransitive, chiefly in the third person) to stagnate, to be in stasis (e.g. of business or bodily circulation)

   Synonyms: stagnál, megreked, tesped

Conjugation

The infinitive is more common in the form pangani.

conjugation of pang

Click for archaic forms			1st person sg	2nd person sg informal	3rd person sg, 2nd p. sg formal	1st person pl	2nd person pl informal	3rd person pl, 2nd p. pl formal
Indica­tive mood	Pre­sent	Indef.	pangok	pangsz	pang	pangunk	pangtok	pangnak
		Def.	intransitive verb, definite forms are not used
		2nd-p. o.	―
	Past	Indef.	pangtam	pangtál	pangott	pangtunk	pangtatok	pangtak
		Def.	―
		2nd-p. o.	―
	Future		Future is expressed with a present-tense verb with a completion-marking prefix and/or a time adverb, or—more explicitly—with the infinitive plus the conjugated auxiliary verb fog, e.g. pangni fog.
	Archaic Preterit	Indef.	pangék	pangál	panga	pangánk	pangátok	pangának
		Def.	―
		2nd-p. o.	―
	Archaic Past		Two additional past tenses: the present and the (current) past forms followed by vala (volt), e.g. pang vala, pangott vala/volt.
	Archaic Future	Indef.	pangandok	pangandasz	pangand	pangandunk	pangandotok	pangandanak
		Def.	―
		2nd-p. o.	―
Condi­tional mood	Pre­sent	Indef.	pangnék	pangnál	pangna	pangnánk	pangnátok	pangnának
		Def.	―
		2nd-p. o.	―
	Past		Indicative past forms followed by volna, e.g. pangott volna
Sub­junc­tive mood	Pre­sent	Indef.	pangjak	pangj or pangjál	pangjon	pangjunk	pangjatok	pangjanak
		Def.	―
		2nd-p. o.	―
	(Archaic) Past		Indicative past forms followed by légyen, e.g. pangott légyen
Infinitive	pangni		pangnom	pangnod	pangnia	pangnunk	pangnotok	pangniuk
Other forms	Verbal noun		Present part.	Past part.	Future part.	Adverbial participle		Causative
	pangás		pangó	pangott	―	pangva (pangván)

potential conjugation of pang

Click for archaic forms			1st person sg	2nd person sg informal	3rd person sg, 2nd p. sg formal	1st person pl	2nd person pl informal	3rd person pl, 2nd p. pl formal
Indica­tive mood	Pre­sent	Indef.	panghatok	panghatsz	panghat	panghatunk	panghattok	panghatnak
		Def.	intransitive verb, definite forms are not used
		2nd-p. o.	―
	Past	Indef.	panghattam	panghattál	panghatott	panghattunk	panghattatok	panghattak
		Def.	―
		2nd-p. o.	―
	Archaic Preterit	Indef.	panghaték	panghatál	panghata	panghatánk	panghatátok	panghatának
		Def.	―
		2nd-p. o.	―
	Archaic Past		Two additional past tenses: the present and the (current) past forms followed by vala, e.g. panghat vala, panghatott vala/volt.
	Archaic Future	Indef.	panghatandok or pangandhatok	panghatandasz or pangandhatsz	panghatand or pangandhat	panghatandunk or pangandhatunk	panghatandotok or pangandhattok	panghatandanak or pangandhatnak
		Def.	―
		2nd-p. o.	―
Condi­tional mood	Pre­sent	Indef.	panghatnék	panghatnál	panghatna	panghatnánk	panghatnátok	panghatnának
		Def.	―
		2nd-p. o.	―
	Past		Indicative past forms followed by volna, e.g. panghatott volna
Sub­junc­tive mood	Pre­sent	Indef.	panghassak	panghass or panghassál	panghasson	panghassunk	panghassatok	panghassanak
		Def.	―
		2nd-p. o.	―
	(Archaic) Past		Indicative past forms followed by légyen, e.g. panghatott légyen
Inf.	(panghatni)		(panghatnom)	(panghatnod)	(panghatnia)	(panghatnunk)	(panghatnotok)	(panghatniuk)
Positive adjective			―	Neg. adj.	―	Adv. part.	(panghatva / panghatván)

Derived terms

• pangás
• pangó

Further reading

• pang in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN

Javanese

Etymology

From Old Javanese paṅ.

Noun

pang

1. branch

Ludian

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *panka.

Noun

pang

1. handle

Mandarin

Romanization

pang

1. Nonstandard spelling of pāng.
2. Nonstandard spelling of páng.
3. Nonstandard spelling of pǎng.
4. Nonstandard spelling of pàng.

Usage notes

• Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

Romansch

Alternative forms

• paun (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Puter)
• pàn (Sutsilvan)
• pan (Vallader)

Etymology

From Latin pānis, pānem.

Noun

pang m

1. (Surmiran) bread

Noun

pang m (plural pangs)

1. (Surmiran) loaf of bread

Swedish

Etymology 1

Onomatopoeic.

Interjection

pang

1. bang (verbal percussive sound)

Noun

pang n

1. bang, explosion

   Han vaknade med ett pang. ― He woke up with a bang.

   Pang! Pang! Du är död! ― Bang! Bang! You are dead!

   • 1887, August Strindberg, Hemsöborna:

     när plötsligen det hördes ett pang! utanför på gården och rasslet av glasskärvor.

     when suddenly they heard a bang! outside in the yard and the sound of broken glass.

Declension

Declension of pang
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	pang	panget	pang	pangen
Genitive	pangs	pangets	pangs	pangens

See also

• knall

Etymology 2

Noun

pang n

1. (colloquial, dated) pension house, hotel; clipping of pensionat.

Declension

Declension of pang
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	pang	panget	pang	pangen
Genitive	pangs	pangets	pangs	pangens

Trivia

• The Swedish translation of John Cleese's Fawlty Towers (1975), "Pang i bygget" (1979) is a pun based on both definitions.

References

• pang in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• pang in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• pang in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

Veps

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *panka.

Noun

pang

1. handle, grip

Declension

Inflection of pang (inflection type 5/sana)
nominative sing.	pang
genitive sing.	pangan
partitive sing.	pangad
partitive plur.	pangoid
	singular	plural
nominative	pang	pangad
accusative	pangan	pangad
genitive	pangan	pangoiden
partitive	pangad	pangoid
essive-instructive	pangan	pangoin
translative	pangaks	pangoikš
inessive	pangas	pangoiš
elative	pangaspäi	pangoišpäi
illative	pangaha	pangoihe
adessive	pangal	pangoil
ablative	pangalpäi	pangoilpäi
allative	pangale	pangoile
abessive	pangata	pangoita
comitative	panganke	pangoidenke
prolative	pangadme	pangoidme
approximative I	panganno	pangoidenno
approximative II	pangannoks	pangoidennoks
egressive	pangannopäi	pangoidennopäi
terminative I	pangahasai	pangoihesai
terminative II	pangalesai	pangoilesai
terminative III	pangassai	—
additive I	pangahapäi	pangoihepäi
additive II	pangalepäi	pangoilepäi