Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

sting

/ˈstɪŋ/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.80 in modern English

Syllables: sting
IPA: /ˈstɪŋ/

6

Scrabble Score

5

Letters

1

Syllables

5

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A bump left on the skin after having been stung.

noun

A puncture made by an insect or arachnid in an attack, usually including the injection of venom.

noun

A pointed portion of an insect or arachnid used for attack.

noun

A sharp, localized pain primarily on the epidermis.

noun

A sharp-pointed hollow hair seated on a gland which secretes an acrid fluid, as in nettles.

noun

The thrust of a sting into the flesh; the act of stinging; a wound inflicted by stinging.

noun

A police operation in which the police pretend to engage in criminal activity in order to catch a criminal.

noun

A short percussive phrase played by a drummer to accent the punchline in a comedy show.

Example Sentences

"Look at this nasty hornet sting: it's turned blue!"
"She died from a bee sting."
"That plant will give a little sting if you touch it."
"the lurking serpent's mortal sting"
"The criminal gang was caught after a successful sting."
"Shepard: I'm taking you in, Jax. Turian Bodyguard: It's a sting. Bastard set us up. Jax: What the hell are you playing at?"

Etymology

From Middle English styng, sting, stynge, stenge, from Old English sting, stincg (“a sting, stab, thrust made with a pointed instrument; the wound made by a stab or sting”), from Proto-Germanic *stingaz; possibly also from Old English stynġ, from Proto-Germanic *stungiz.

Origin

Source language: Middle English

Word Breakdown

Root: styng, sting, *stingaz, stynġ, *stungiz, stingen

Usage

Inflected Forms

stings (plural) stings (present, singular) stinging (participle, present) stung (past) stang (dialectal, past) stung (participle, past)

Derived Forms

countersting stingless unsting outsting resting stingable stingbull stingfish stingo stingproof stingray stingy

Phrases

bee sting counter-sting European sting winkle ring sting sting in the tail stinging nettle sting like a bee

Synonyms

stinger burn sounder smart Dungeon Mastering DMing GMing sting operation

Rhymes With

thing bring king spring ring wing sing string swing beijing singh ing

Questions

How do you pronounce sting?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈstɪŋ/.
What does sting mean?: A bump left on the skin after having been stung.
Where does sting come from?: It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce sting

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “sting”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈstɪŋ/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “sting”.
Repeat and practice — Say “sting” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.