wing
/wɪŋ/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.61 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An appendage of an animal's (bird, bat, insect) body that enables it to fly.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
One of the broad, thin, anterior lobes of the foot of a pteropod, used as an organ in swimming.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
Etymology
From Middle English winge, wenge, from Old Norse vængr ("wing of a flying animal, wing of a building"; compare vængi (“ship's cabin”)), from Proto-Germanic *wēingijaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂weh₁- (“to blow”), thus related to wind. Cognate with Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Swedish vinge (“wing”), Elfdalian waingg (“wing”), Faroese vongur (“wing”), Icelandic vængur (“wing”), Norwegian Nynorsk veng (“wing”). Replaced native Middle English fither (from Old English fiþre, from Proto-Germanic *fiþriją), which merged with Middle English fether (from Old English feþer, from Proto-Germanic *feþrō). More at feather.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /wɪŋ/
- British English: /wɪŋ/
Usage
- Countable
- Uncountable
- Slang
- British usage
- American usage
- Informal
- Transitive verb
- Intransitive verb
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Medicine.