The origin of the noun is uncertain;[1] it is possibly derived fromMiddle English*pange, perhaps an altered form ofprange,prōnge(“affliction, agony, pain; pointed instrument”) as inprongys of deth (“pangs of death, death throes”), from Anglo-Latinpronga, of unknown origin. Perhaps connected withMiddle Dutchprange,pranghe(“instrument for pinching”) (modernDutchprang(“horse restraint; fetter, neck iron”)),Middle Low Germanprange(“pole, stake; (possibly) kind of pillory or stocks”),[1][2][3]Old Englishpyngan(“to prick”). The word may thus be related toprong.
The verb is derived from the noun.[4]
pang (pluralpangs)
- (often in theplural) Aparoxysm ofextremephysicalpain oranguish; afeeling ofsudden andtransitoryagony; athroe.
1591 (date written),William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act III, scene iii],page137, column 1:War[wick]. See how thepangs of death do make him grin. /Sal[isbury]. Diſturbe him not, let him paſſe peaceably.
c.1601–1602 (date written),William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act III, scene iv],page269:He is knight dubb'd with vnhatche'd Rapier, and on carpet conſideration, but he is a diuell in priuatebrall, soules and bodies hath he diuorc'd three, and his incenſement at this moment is ſo implacable, that ſatisfaction can be none, but bypangs of death and ſepulcher: Hob, nob, is his word: giu't or take't.
a.1722,Matthew Prior, “Written in Lady Howe’s Ovid’s Epistles”, inThe Poetical Works of Matthew Prior, Esq. […], Edinburgh: Printed by Mundell and Son, […], published1793,→OCLC; republished inRobert Anderson, editor,The Works of the British Poets. […], volume VII, London: Printed for John & Arthur Arch; and for Bell & Bradfute, and J. Mundell & Co. Edinburgh,1795,→OCLC,page456, column 1:But, oh! whatpangs torment the deſtin’d heart, / That feels the wound, yet dare not ſhow the dart; / What eaſe couldOvid to his ſorrows give, / Who muſt not ſpeak, and therefore cannot live?
1862, Christina Rossetti, “In the Round Tower at Jhansi, June 8, 1857”, inGoblin Market and Other Poems, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, London:Macmillan & Co., […],→OCLC,page31:"Will it hurt much?"—"No, mine own: / I wish I could bear thepang for both." / "I wish I could bear thepang alone: / Courage, dear, I am not loth."
1888 May,Oscar Wilde, “The Nightingale and the Rose”, inThe Happy Prince and Other Tales, London:David Nutt, […],→OCLC,pages37–38:So the Nightingale pressed closer against the thorn, and the thorn touched her heart, and a fiercepang of pain shot through her. Bitter, bitter was the pain, and wilder and wilder grew her song, for she sang of the Love that is perfected by Death, of the Love that dies not in the tomb.
- (often in theplural) Asuddensharpfeeling of anemotional ormental nature, as ofjoy orsorrow.
1843 December 19,Charles Dickens, “Stave Five. The End of It.”, inA Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London:Chapman & Hall, […],→OCLC,pages158–159:He had not gone far, when coming on towards him he beheld the portly gentleman, who had walked into his counting-house the day before, and said, "Scrooge and Marley's, I believe?" It sent apang across his heart to think how this old gentleman would look upon him when they met; but he knew what path lay straight before him, and he took it.
1867 February,[Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.], “The Guardian Angel”, inThe Atlantic Monthly. A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics, volume XIX, number CXII, Boston, Mass.:Ticknor and Fields, […],→OCLC, chapter VII (Myrtle’s Letter.—The Young Men’s Pursuit.),page141, column 2:He was startled with a piece of information which gave him such an exquisitepang of delight that he could hardly keep the usual quiet of his demeanor.
1918,Norman Lindsay,The Magic Pudding, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page18:Unfortunately, in the hurry of leaving home, he had forgotten to provide himself with food, and at lunch time found himself attacked by thepangs of hunger.
paroxysm of extreme physical pain or anguish
sudden sharp feeling of a mental or emotional nature
pang (third-person singular simple presentpangs,present participlepanging,simple past and past participlepanged)
- (transitive) Tocause to havegreatpain orsuffering; totorment, totorture.
- Synonyms:afflict,excruciate;see alsoThesaurus:hurt
1613 (date written),William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act II, scene iii],page214, column 2:Yet if that quarrell, Fortune, to diuorce / It from the bearer, 'tis a ſufferance,panging / As ſoule and bodies ſeuering.
1919,Christopher Morley, “On Unanswering Letters”, inMince Pie: Adventures on the Sunny Side of Grub Street, New York, N.Y.:George H. Doran Company,→OCLC,page40:And perhaps a not altogether false little story could be written about a man who never visited those most dear to him, because itpanged him so to say good-bye when he had to leave.
- ↑1.01.1“pang,n.1”, inOED Online
, Oxford:Oxford University Press, March 2005;“pang”, inLexico,Dictionary.com;Oxford University Press,2019–2022. - ^“prong,n.2”, inOED Online
, Oxford:Oxford University Press,June 2007. - ^“prōnge,n.”, inMED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.:University of Michigan,2007, retrieved3 December 2018.
- ^“pang,v.1”, inOED Online
, Oxford:Oxford University Press, March 2005.
- William Dwight Whitney,Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “pang”, inThe Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.:The Century Co.,→OCLC.
- “pang”, inWebster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.:G. & C. Merriam,1913,→OCLC.
pang
- (nonstandard)simplepast ofping
FromProto-Finnic*panka. Possibly cognate withTundra Enetspoggo(“handle”).
pang (genitivepange,partitivepange)
- bucket
- Synonym:ämber
- “pang”, in[EKSS] Eesti keele seletav sõnaraamat [Descriptive Dictionary of the Estonian Language] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation),2009
For pronunciation and definitions ofpang – see幫 (“group;gang; etc.”). (This term is thepe̍h-ōe-jī form of幫). |
Of uncertain origin, possibly from anonomatopoeic stem (comparekong(“to resound”)). Formed with-g(frequentative verb-forming suffix). First attested in 1792.[1]
pang
- (intransitive, chiefly in the third person) tostagnate, to be instasis(e.g. of business or bodily circulation)
- Synonyms:stagnál,megreked,tesped
The infinitive is more common in the formpangani.
- ^pang in Károly Gerstner, editor,Új magyar etimológiai szótár [New Etymological Dictionary of Hungarian] (ÚESz.), Online edition (beta version), Budapest: MTA Research Institute for Linguistics /Hungarian Research Centre for Linguistics, 2011–2024.
- pang in Géza Bárczi,László Országh,et al., editors,A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962.Fifth ed., 1992:→ISBN.
FromOld Javanesepaṅ.
pang
- branch
FromProto-Finnic*panka.
pang
- handle
pang
- Nonstandard spelling ofpāng.
- Nonstandard spelling ofpáng.
- Nonstandard spelling ofpǎng.
- Nonstandard spelling ofpàng.
- Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the criticaltonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.
FromLatinpānis, pānem.
pang m
- (Surmiran)bread
pang m (pluralpangs)
- (Surmiran)loaf of bread
Onomatopoeic.
pang
- bang (verbal percussive sound)
pang n
- bang,explosion
- Han vaknade med ettpang. ―He woke up with abang.
- Pang!Pang! Du är död! ―Bang!Bang! You are dead!
1887,August Strindberg,Hemsöborna:när plötsligen det hördes ettpang! utanför på gården och rasslet av glasskärvor.- when suddenly they heard a bang! outside in the yard and the sound of broken glass.
pang n
- (colloquial, dated)pension house,hotel;clipping ofpensionat.
- The Swedish translation of John Cleese'sFawlty Towers (1975), "Pang i bygget" (1979) is a pun based on both definitions.
FromProto-Finnic*panka.
pang
- handle,grip