piercing

See also: Piercing

English

Etymology

pierce +‎ -ing

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɪɹsɪŋ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɪəsɪŋ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)sɪŋ
• Hyphenation: piercing

Verb

piercing

1. present participle of pierce

Noun

piercing (countable and uncountable, plural piercings)

A Dinka woman wearing several piercings.

1. gerund of pierce
3. A hole made in the body so that jewellery can be worn through it.

   ear piercing

5. An item of jewellery designed to be fitted through a piercing (sense 2).

Descendants

• → Catalan: pírcing
• → French: piercing
• → German: Piercing
• → Portuguese: piercing, pírcingue
• → Spanish: pirsin

Translations

hole for jewelry

• Armenian: թորիծ (hy) (tʿoric)
• Catalan: pírcing (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 刺穿 (zh) (cìchuān), 穿洞 (zh) (chuāndòng), 沖孔 (zh) (chōngkǒng)

• Dutch: piercing (nl) c
• Finnish: lävistys (fi)
• French: piercing (fr) m
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Piercing (de) n
• Italian: foro (it) m
• Japanese: ピアスホール (piasu hōru)
• Portuguese: piercing m, pírcingue m
• Russian: пи́рсинг (ru) m (pírsing), прока́лывание (ru) n (prokályvanije)
• Spanish: pirsin (es) m, perforación (es) f
• Swedish: piercing (sv) c
• Turkish: pirsing (tr)

the jewelry itself

• Bulgarian: пирсинг m (pirsing)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: lävistys (fi)
• French: piercing (fr) m
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• Italian: piercing (it) m
• Japanese: ピアス (ja) (piasu)
• Portuguese: pírcingue m, piercing m
• Spanish: pirsin (es) m
• Turkish: pirsing (tr), hızma (tr)

Adjective

piercing (comparative more piercing, superlative most piercing)

1. Appearing to look deeply into; penetrating.

   piercing eyes

2. Of temperature, extremely cold so that it penetrates through clothing and shelter.
3. Of sound, loud and sharp; shrill.

   The piercing noise of the children could be heard two blocks from the elementary school.

   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, H.L. Brækstad, transl., Folk and Fairy Tales, page 155:

     In the meantime the saw was stopped and two of the men began filing and sharpening the blades, which produced such a piercing sound that it went through bone and marrow.

Derived terms

• armour-piercing, armor-piercing
• ear-piercing

Translations

appearing to look deeply into; penetrating

• Bulgarian: проницателен (bg) (pronicatelen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 尖利 (zh) (jiānlì)

• Finnish: läpitunkeva
• German: durchdringend (de), stechend (de)
• Italian: pungente (it), penetrante (it)
• Latin: penetrālis
• Spanish: punzante (es)

of temperature - extremely cold

• Bulgarian: пронизващ (bg) (pronizvašt)
• German: beißend (de)
• Italian: penetrante (it)
• Maori: kōtaratara

of sound - shrill

• Bulgarian: пронизителен (bg) (pronizitelen)
• German: durchdringend (de), schrill (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: ὀξύφωνος (oxúphōnos)

• Latin: strīdulus
• Maori: tīkākā, tīwharawhara

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: akretona
• French: perçant (fr)
• Maori: mākinakina
• Norman: pèrchant
• Russian: пронзи́тельный (ru) (pronzítelʹnyj)

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Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English piercing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpiːr.sɪŋ/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: pier‧cing

Noun

piercing m (plural piercings, diminutive piercinkje n)

1. piercing (ornament)

Derived terms

• lippiercing
• navelpiercing
• neuspiercing
• tepelpiercing
• wenkbrauwpiercing

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French

Etymology

Borrowed from English piercing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɛʁ.siŋ/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

piercing m (plural piercings)

1. a piercing

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Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English piercing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpir.sinɡ/, /ˈpir.sin/
• Rhymes: -irsinɡ, -irsin
• Hyphenation: pìer‧cing

Noun

piercing m (invariable)

1. piercing (jewellery worn through a hole in the skin or tongue)

Anagrams

• ciprigne, precingi

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Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from English piercing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpir.siŋk/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -irsiŋk
• Syllabification: pier‧cing

Noun

piercing m inan

1. piercing (jewellery worn through a hole in the skin or tongue)

Declension

Declension of piercing

	singular
nominative	piercing
genitive	piercingu
dative	piercingowi
accusative	piercing
instrumental	piercingiem
locative	piercingu
vocative	piercingu

Further reading

• piercing in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• piercing in Polish dictionaries at PWN

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Portuguese

Alternative forms

• pírcingue (European)

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English piercing.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈpiʁ.sĩ/ [ˈpih.sĩ]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈpiʁ.sĩ/ [ˈpih.sĩ]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /ˈpiɾ.sĩ/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ˈpiʁ.sĩ/ [ˈpiχ.sĩ]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈpiɻ.sĩ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈpiɾ.sĩɡ/

• Homophone: pírcingue (Portugal)

Noun

piercing m (plural piercings)

1. piercing (hole for jewelry)
2. piercing (the jewelry itself)

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Spanish

Alternative forms

• pirsin

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English piercing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpiɾsin/ [ˈpiɾ.sĩn]
• Rhymes: -iɾsin

Noun

piercing m (plural piercings)

1. piercing

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

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Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from English piercing.

En ung man med piercingar
A young man with piercings

Noun

piercing c

1. piercing (body art)

Declension

Declension of piercing
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	piercing	piercingen	piercingar	piercingarna
Genitive	piercings	piercingens	piercingars	piercingarnas

Derived terms

• ansiktspiercing
• kroppspiercing

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Turkish

Etymology

From English piercing.

Noun

piercing (definite accusative piercingi, plural piercingler)

1. piercing

References

• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–), “piercing”, in Nişanyan Sözlük