thong
English
editEtymology
editFrom Middle English thong, thwong, thwang, from Old English þwong, þwang, þweng, þwæng (“thong, band, strap, cord, strip of leather; phylactery”), from Proto-West Germanic *þwangi, from Proto-Germanic *þwangiz, *þwanguz (“coercion, constraint, band, clamp, strap”), from Proto-Indo-European *twenk- (“to squeeze, press, pressure”). Cognate with Scots thwang, thwayng, thang (“thong”), Middle Low German dwenge (“clamp, jaws, steel-trap”), German Zwinge (“vise, clamp”), Danish tvinge (“clamp”), dialectal Norwegian tveng (“shoestrap, shoelace”), Icelandic þvengur (“strap, thong, latchet”).
Pronunciation
edit- (UK) enPR: thŏng, IPA(key): /θɒŋ/
- (General American) IPA(key): /θɔŋ/
- (cot–caught merger) IPA(key): /θɑŋ/
Audio (General Australian): (file) - Rhymes: -ɒŋ
Noun
editthong (plural thongs)
- A strip of leather.
- (usually in the plural, Australia) An item of footwear, usually of rubber, secured by two straps which join to pass between the big toe and its neighbour.
- 1963 March 16, Hal Porter, “Little old lady passing by”, in The Bulletin, page 22, column 3:
- Because of August he wears shorts and sandals, the Japanese geta sort called thongs.
- 1964, The Beach Boys, All Summer Long:
- T-shirts, cut-offs, and a pair of thongs (T-shirts, cut-offs, and a pair of thongs).
- 2006, Peter Murray, David Poole, Grant Jones, Contemporary Issues in Management and Organisational Behaviour, Thomson, page 108,
- Players turned up for questioning wearing thongs, shorts and T-shirts.
- 2008, Steve Parish, Eccentric Australia[1], page 104:
- Thongs are the favoured footwear for many Aussies, especially near the beaches, but most people in the Outback find that they can't put a foot wrong with a tough, nicely worn-in pair or workboots.
- 2009, Charles Rawlings-Way, Sydney, Lonely Planet, page 126:
- You shouldn′t face condescension if you rock into a boutique in your thongs and a singlet, but neither will you be treated like a princess just because you've splashed $5000 on daddy's credit card.
- (UK, US) An item of clothing, usually an undergarment or swimwear consisting of very narrow strips designed to cover just the genitals and nothing more.
- She was impressed by her friend's confidence to wear a thong on the crowded beach.
- The largest section of a bullwhip constructed of many straps of braided leather.
Synonyms
edit- (an item of footwear): see list in flip-flop
- (an undergarment or swimwear): G-string, butt floss
Derived terms
editTranslations
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
See also
editKokborok
editEtymology
edit(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.).
Noun
editthong
Middle English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editFrom Old English þwang, from Proto-West Germanic *þwangi, from Proto-Germanic *þwangiz.
Pronunciation
editNoun
editthong (plural thonges)
- A strip cut from a piece of leather.
Derived terms
edit- keythong (possibly)
- sho þuong
- thongly
- þongcastre
Descendants
editReferences
edit- “thong, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɒŋ
- Rhymes:English/ɒŋ/1 syllable
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- Australian English
- English terms with quotations
- British English
- American English
- English terms with usage examples
- en:Footwear
- en:Underwear
- Kokborok lemmas
- Kokborok nouns
- trp:Buildings
- Middle English terms inherited from Old English
- Middle English terms derived from Old English
- Middle English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- Middle English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- Middle English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Middle English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Middle English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English nouns