thong
/θɔŋ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.16 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An item of footwear, usually of rubber, secured by two straps which join to pass between the big toe and its neighbour.
Australian usage; Dated
noun
An item of clothing, usually an undergarment or swimwear consisting of very narrow strips designed to cover just the genitals and nothing more.
British usage; American usage
name
A surname.
Example Sentences
- "Because of August he wears shorts and sandals, the Japanese geta sort called thongs."
- "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."
- "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."
- "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."
- "She was impressed by her friend's confidence to wear a thong on the crowded beach."
Etymology
From Middle English thong, thwong, thwang, from Old English þwong, þwang (“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”), Swedish tving (“clamp”), Icelandic þvengur (“strap, thong, latchet”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: thong, þwong, *þwangi, *þwangiz, *twenk-
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /θɔŋ/
- British English: /θɒŋ/
Usage
- Australian usage
- Dated
- British usage
- American usage