pang

The origin of the noun is uncertain;^[1] it is possibly derived from Middle English *pange, perhaps an altered form of prange, prōnge (“affliction, agony, pain; pointed instrument”) as in prongys of deth (“pangs of death, death throes”), from Anglo-Latin pronga, of unknown origin. Perhaps connected with Middle Dutch prange, pranghe (“instrument for pinching”) (modern Dutch prang (“horse restraint; fetter, neck iron”)), Middle Low German prange (“pole, stake; (possibly) kind of pillory or stocks”),^[1][2][3] Old English pyngan (“to prick”). The word may thus be related to prong.

The verb is derived from the noun.^[4]

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: păng; IPA^(key): /pæŋ/

  • Audio (General Australian):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -æŋ

pang (plural pangs)

1. (often in the plural) A paroxysm of extreme physical pain or anguish; a feeling of sudden and transitory agony; a throe.
   • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii], page 137, column 1:

     War[wick]. See how the pangs 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”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv], page 269:

     He is knight dubb'd with vnhatche'd Rapier, and on carpet conſideration, but he is a diuell in priuate brall, soules and bodies hath he diuorc'd three, and his incenſement at this moment is ſo implacable, that ſatisfaction can be none, but by pangs 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”, in The Poetical Works of Matthew Prior, Esq. […], Edinburgh: Printed by Mundell and Son, […], published 1793, →OCLC; republished in Robert 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, page 456, column 1:

     But, oh! what pangs torment the deſtin’d heart, / That feels the wound, yet dare not ſhow the dart; / What eaſe could Ovid to his ſorrows give, / Who muſt not ſpeak, and therefore cannot live?

   • 1862, Christina Rossetti, “In the Round Tower at Jhansi, June 8, 1857”, in Goblin Market and Other Poems, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, London: Macmillan & Co., […], →OCLC, page 31:

     "Will it hurt much?"—"No, mine own: / I wish I could bear the pang for both." / "I wish I could bear the pang alone: / Courage, dear, I am not loth."

   • 1888 May, Oscar Wilde, “The Nightingale and the Rose”, in The Happy Prince and Other Tales, London: David Nutt, […], →OCLC, pages 37–38:

     So the Nightingale pressed closer against the thorn, and the thorn touched her heart, and a fierce pang 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.

2. (often in the plural) A sudden sharp feeling of an emotional or mental nature, as of joy or sorrow.
   • 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Five. The End of It.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, pages 158–159:

     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 a pang 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”, in The 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.), page 141, column 2:

     He was startled with a piece of information which gave him such an exquisite pang of delight that he could hardly keep the usual quiet of his demeanor.

   • 1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 18:

     Unfortunately, in the hurry of leaving home, he had forgotten to provide himself with food, and at lunch time found himself attacked by the pangs of hunger.

pang (third-person singular simple present pangs, present participle panging, simple past and past participle panged)

1. (transitive) To cause to have great pain or suffering; to torment, to torture.

   Synonyms: afflict, excruciate; see also Thesaurus:hurt

   • 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii], page 214, 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”, in Mince Pie: Adventures on the Sunny Side of Grub Street, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC, page 40:

     And perhaps a not altogether false little story could be written about a man who never visited those most dear to him, because it panged him so to say good-bye when he had to leave.

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “pang”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “pang”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

pang

1. (nonstandard) simple past of ping

From Proto-Finnic *panka. Possibly cognate with Tundra Enets poggo (“handle”).

pang (genitive pange, partitive pange)

1. bucket

   Synonym: ämber

• pang in Sõnaveeb (Eesti Keele Instituut)

• “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

Of uncertain origin, possibly from an onomatopoeic stem (compare kong (“to resound”)). Formed with -g (frequentative verb-forming suffix). First attested in 1792.^[1]

• IPA^(key): [ˈpɒŋɡ]
• Rhymes: -ɒŋɡ

pang

1. (intransitive, chiefly in the third person) to stagnate, to be in stasis (e.g. of business or bodily circulation)

   Synonyms: stagnál, megreked, tesped

The infinitive is more common in the form pangani.

• pangás
• pangó

• 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.

From Old Javanese paṅ.

pang

1. branch

From Proto-Finnic *panka.

pang

1. handle

pang

1. nonstandard spelling of pāng
2. nonstandard spelling of páng
3. nonstandard spelling of pǎng
4. nonstandard spelling of pàng

• Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

• paun (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Puter)
• pàn (Sutsilvan)
• pan (Vallader)

From Latin pānis, pānem.

pang m

1. (Surmiran) bread

pang m (plural pangs)

1. (Surmiran) loaf of bread

Onomatopoeic.

pang

1. bang (verbal percussive sound)

pang n

1. bang, explosion

   Han vaknade med ett pang. ― He woke up with a bang.

   Pang! Pang! Du är död! ― Bang! Bang! You are dead!

   • 1887, August Strindberg, Hemsöborna:

     när plötsligen det hördes ett pang! utanför på gården och rasslet av glasskärvor.

     when suddenly they heard a bang! outside in the yard and the sound of broken glass.

• knall

pang n

1. (colloquial, dated) pension house, hotel; clipping of pensionat

• The Swedish translation of John Cleese's Fawlty Towers (1975), "Pang i bygget" (1979) is a pun based on both definitions.

• pang in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• pang in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• pang in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

From Proto-Finnic *panka.

pang

1. handle, grip