• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: hăng, IPA^(key): /hæŋ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æŋ

From Middle English hangen, hongen, from a fusion of Old English hōn (“to hang, be hanging”, transitive verb) and hangian (“to hang, cause to hang”, intransitive verb), from Proto-West Germanic *hą̄han and *hangēn; also probably influenced by Old Norse hengja (“to suspend”) and hanga (“to be suspended”); all from Proto-Germanic *hanhaną, *hangāną, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱenk- (“to waver, be in suspense”).

See also Dutch hangen, Low German hangen and hängen, German hängen, Norwegian Bokmål henge, Norwegian Nynorsk henga; also Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌷𐌰𐌽 (hāhan), Hittite 𒂵𒀀𒀭𒂵 (/⁠kānk-⁠/, “to hang”), Sanskrit शङ्कते (śáṅkate, “is in doubt, hesitates”), Latin cūnctārī (“to delay”).

hang (third-person singular simple present hangs, present participle hanging, simple past and past participle hung or (law) hanged)

1. (intransitive) To be or remain suspended.

   The lights hung from the ceiling.

   • 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter II, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0111:

     On the dark-green walls hung a series of eight engravings, portraits of early Victorian belles, clad in lace and tarletan ball dresses, clipped from an old Book of Beauty. Mrs. Bunting was very fond of these pictures; she thought they gave the drawing-room a note of elegance and refinement.

2. (intransitive) To float, as if suspended.

   The smoke hung in the room.

   • 2023 September 20, Nigel Harris, “Comment Special: And it's goodbye from me...”, in RAIL, number 992, page 3:

     It was a couple of days after the crash, with the smell of burning still hanging in the air from the incinerated wreckage of Coach H, where 31 passengers lost their lives, when I visited the West London site.

3. (intransitive) To veer in one direction.
   • 1979, Council of Law Reporting for New South Wales, New South Wales Law Reports‎^[1] (non-fiction), New South Wales: Council of Law Reporting for New South Wales, published 1979, page 16:

     The jockey claimed that the horse hung towards the outside […]

4. (intransitive, of a ball in cricket, tennis, etc.) To rebound unexpectedly or unusually slowly, due to backward spin on the ball or imperfections of the ground.
5. (transitive) To hold or bear in a suspended or inclined manner or position instead of erect.

   He hung his head in shame.

6. (transitive) To cause (something) to be suspended, as from a hook, hanger, hinges, or the like.

   Hang those lights from the ceiling.

   to hang a door

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 17:1-2:

     It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.

7. (transitive, law) To kill (someone) by suspension from the neck, usually as a form of execution or suicide.

   The culprits were hanged from the nearest tree.

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 3, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     ' […]  There's every Staffordshire crime-piece ever made in this cabinet, and that's unique. The Van Hoyer Museum in New York hasn't that very rare second version of Maria Marten's Red Barn over there, nor the little Frederick George Manning—he was the criminal Dickens saw hanged on the roof of the gaol in Horsemonger Lane, by the way—'

   • 2022 March 10, Peter Lucas, “Lucas: Putin has blood on his hands and The Hague must make him pay”, in Boston Herald‎^[2], archived from the original on 6 August 2022:

     As things go from bad to worse for Putin in his maniacal, murderous attack on Ukraine, he could end up like Milosevic, or worse. The court could change its rules and hang him, the way the Allies hanged Nazi war criminals at the end of World War II.

8. (intransitive, law) To be executed by suspension by one's neck from a gallows, a tree, or other raised bar, attached by a rope tied into a noose.

   You will hang for this, my friend.

9. (transitive, informal) (used in maledictions) To damn.
   • c. 1921 (date written), Karel Čapek, translated by Paul Selver, R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots): A Fantastic Melodrama […], Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1923, →OCLC, Act 1:

     Helena
     
     That depends on how much of the factory you show me.
     
     Domin
     
     Oh, hang the factory. Oh, no, no, you shall see everything, Miss Glory. Indeed you shall. Won't you sit down?

   • 1908, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, London: Wordsworth Classics, published 1993, page 11:

     [H]e suddenly flung down his brush on the floor, said "Bother!" and "Oh blow!" and also "Hang spring-cleaning!" and bolted out of the house without even waiting to put on his coat.

10. (intransitive, informal) To loiter; to hang around; to spend time idly.

    Synonym: hang out

    I didn't see anything, officer. I was just hanging.

    • 2006, Scuba Diving, numbers 1-6, page 49:

      He banned spearfishing wherever he could, started the first eco-moorings in the Caribbean, stopped others from coral- and shell-collecting, and had so much fun 24/7 that some unusually powerful people began to hang with him.

11. (transitive) To exhibit (an object) by hanging.
12. (transitive) To apply (wallpaper or drywall to a wall).

    Let's hang this cute animal design in the nursery.

13. (transitive) To decorate (something) with hanging objects.

    Let's hang the nursery with some new wallpaper.

14. (intransitive, figuratively) To remain persistently in one's thoughts.
    • 1895 May 29, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Palace of Green Porcelain”, in The Time Machine: An Invention, London: William Heinemann, →OCLC, page 110:

      Exploring, I found another short gallery running transversely to the first. This appeared to be devoted to minerals, and the sight of a block of sulphur set my mind running on gunpowder. But I could find no saltpetre; indeed, no nitrates of any kind. Doubtless they had deliquesced ages ago. Yet the sulphur hung in my mind, and set up a train of thinking.

15. (transitive) To prevent from reaching a decision, especially by refusing to join in a verdict that must be unanimous.

    One obstinate juror can hang a jury.

16. (intransitive, computing) To stop responding to manual input devices such as the keyboard and mouse.

    The computer has hung again. Not even pressing <Ctrl>+<Alt>+<Del> works.

    When I push this button the program hangs.

17. (transitive, computing) To cause (a program or computer) to stop responding.

    The program has a bug that can hang the system.

18. (transitive, chess) To cause (a piece) to become vulnerable to capture.

    If you move there, you'll hang your rook.

19. (intransitive, chess) To be vulnerable to capture.

    In this standard opening position White has to be careful because the pawn on e4 hangs.

20. (transitive, baseball, slang, of a pitcher) To throw a hittable off-speed pitch.
    • 2010, Peter Golenbock, Dynasty: The New York Yankees, 1949-1964, →ISBN, page 409:

      McDougald then singled, and with a 3-2 count on Ellie Howard who was playing first base, Spahn hung a curve ball and Howard hit it over the wire fence in left field for a 4-4 tie.

21. (transitive, figurative) To attach or cause to stick (a charge or accusation, etc.).
    • 1848, The American Pulpit‎^[3], volume 3, Samuel Chism, published 1848, page 120:

      There were no whisperings, even from his opponents, that he was no better than he ought to be. Because, there was nothing wrong on which to hang a charge. As an eloquent orator, he carried with him the firm support of a good name.

    • 1989, Faith Sullivan, The Cape Ann, Penguin, published 1989, →ISBN, page 2:

      Papa had wanted to call me Beverly Mary; Mary after the Blessed Virgin. Mama said she wouldn't hang a name like Beverly Mary on a pet skunk.

• Formerly, at least until the 16th century, the past tense of the transitive use of hang was hanged (see quote from King James Bible, above). This form is retained for the legal senses “to be executed by suspension from the neck” and “to execute by suspension from the neck”, with hung used for all other meanings. hung is sometimes also used in the legal senses, but is proscribed in legal or other formal writing (for those senses). Rarely, hanged is used for non-legal senses as well, which is also proscribed. Either hanged or hung can be used for suicidal hangings, with hung being slightly more common. See also the etymology.

• (be or remain suspended): be suspended, dangle
• (float as if suspended): float, hover
• (execute (someone) by suspension from the neck): lynch, string up; see also Thesaurus:kill by hanging
• (be executed): go to the gallows, swing (informal), take a ride to Tyburn (archaic); see also Thesaurus:die by hanging
• (loiter): hang about, hang around, loiter
• (computing: stop responding): freeze, lock up
• (cause (something) to be suspended): suspend
• (hold or bear in a suspended or inclined manner or position instead of erect): drop, lower
• (to place on a hook): hook, hook up
• (to put a telephone handset back on a hook): hang up
• (exhibit): exhibit, show
• (apply (wallpaper to a wall)): put up
• (decorate (something) with hanging objects): bedeck, deck, decorate
• (computing: cause (a program or computer) to stop responding): freeze, lock up
• (in chess: cause to become vulnerable to capture):
• (in chess: be vulnerable to capture):

hang (plural hangs)

1. The way in which something hangs.

   This skirt has a nice hang.

2. A mass of hanging material.
   • 2014, Matthew Jobin, The Nethergrim, volume 1:

     They advanced in a crouch, dropping to their knees every few yards to pass under a hang of rock.

   • 1911, Alexander MacDonald, The Invisible Island: A Story of the Far North of Queensland, page 105:

     “I don't see the hang of so much talky-talky,” broke in Uncle Sam. “We've heard all that can be said about things, […]

3. A slackening of motion.
4. A sharp or steep declivity or slope.
5. (computing) An instance of ceasing to respond to input.

   We sometimes get system hangs.

6. (informal, figuratively) A grip, understanding.
7. (colloquial)
   1. A hangout.
      • 2008, Jim Norton, Happy Endings, Gallery Books, →ISBN, page 25:

        My first day was a fun hang, but I didn't really do too much. Me and stupid Bob just hung around the casino looking at box and losing money.

      • 2021 April 14, Jen Kirsch, “A Good Hang Lasts No More Than 90 Minutes”, in InStyle‎^[4], archived from the original on 21 October 2022:

        So how can you set up a hang within a 90-minute time-frame for yourself? Be clear with your friends about timing from the get-go, so they, too, can decide if it's worth their time to even meet up.

      • 2021 October 27, Danielle McTaggart (quoted), Chelsea Brimstin, “Dear Rouge share sentimental video for delicate new single 'Life Goes By And I Can’t Keep Up'”, in Indie88‎^[5], archived from the original on 21 October 2022:

        He invited us over to his beautiful heritage home in downtown Toronto for a hang.

      • 2025 March 17, Andrew Marantz, “The Battle for the Bros”, in The New Yorker‎^[6], →ISSN:

        Then again, a live stream isn’t supposed to be a tight, scripted lecture. It’s supposed to be a good hang.

   3. A person that someone hangs out with.
      • 2004, Relient K, Mark Nichols, The Complex Infrastructure Known as the Female Mind, Thomas Nelson, →ISBN, page 76:

        She might announce something to everyone that makes no sense or tells a story that rambles on and on and makes no point. But for some reason nobody seems to mind. We all just like to listen to The Airhead. She's a fun hang.

      • 2018 July 18, Joe Coscarelli, “How Benny Blanco Became the Most Popular Oddball in Pop Music”, in New York Times‎^[7]:

        "I couldn't sit down and play a concert for you or really wow you on any instrument," Mr. Blanco said, estimating that "like 75 percent" of his success comes from being a good hang. "What I can do is meet an artist, know what type of song I think we should make and be their therapist, make everyone feel comfortable."

      • 2019, Shea Serrano, Arturo Torres, Movies (And Other Things), Grand Central Publishing, →ISBN:

        And maaaaaaaybe Superman would be a good hang, though I suspect that'd be a lot like hanging out with a youth pastor.

From hang sangwich, Irish colloquial pronunciation of ham sandwich.

hang (uncountable)

1. (Ireland, informal, derogatory) Cheap processed ham (cured pork), often made specially for sandwiches.

hang

1. Alternative spelling of Hang (“musical instrument”)

Alteration of dang, itself a minced oath of damn.

hang (plural hangs)

1. (colloquial) The smallest amount of concern or consideration; a damn.

   I don't give a hang.

   They don't seem to care a hang about the consequences.

• Gahn, Ghan

• IPA^(key): /ɦaŋ/

From Dutch hangen, a merger of Middle Dutch hangen and haen.

hang (present hang, present participle hangende, past participle gehang)

1. (transitive and intransitive) to hang

• hang af (van) (“to depend (on)”)

From Dutch hang.

hang (plural hange)

1. slope

• helling

From Proto-Central Bahnaric *haːŋ, from Chamic. Compare Eastern Cham ꨨꩃ (hang).

• IPA^(key): /haːŋ/

hang 

1. bank, shore

• IPA^(key): /ˈhaŋ/ [ˈhaŋ]

háng (Badlit spelling ᜑᜅ᜔)

1. (Metro Cebu, Bohol, Southern Leyte) Alternative form of halang

From English hang.

hang

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) Short for hang機 / hang机 (heng¹ gei¹).

IPA^(key): [ˈhɑŋˀ]

• Rhymes: -ɑŋˀ

From German Hang, a noun derived from the verb hangen (see hängen (“to hang”)).

hang c (singular definite hangen, not used in plural form)

1. inclination or disposition towards something

   Manden har hang til raseri.

   The man is disposed towards rage.

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

hang

1. past tense of hænge

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑŋ
• IPA^(key): /ɦɑŋ/

hang c (plural hangen, diminutive hangetje n)

1. a support for hanging objects, such as a nail for a picture frame
2. a place to dry or smoke produce
3. a hankering, desire

   Hij werd gedreven door een hang naar status.

   He was driven by a desire for status.

• hangijzer n

hang

1. inflection of hangen:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative

From Proto-Finnic *hanko. Related to Finnish hanko.

hang (genitive hangu, partitive hangu)

1. fork

Declension of hang (ÕS type 22e/riik, length gradation)
		singular	plural
nominative		hang	hangud
accusative	nom.
	gen.	hangu
genitive			hangude
partitive		hangu	hange hangusid
illative		hangu hangusse	hangudesse hangesse
inessive		hangus	hangudes hanges
elative		hangust	hangudest hangest
allative		hangule	hangudele hangele
adessive		hangul	hangudel hangel
ablative		hangult	hangudelt hangelt
translative		hanguks	hangudeks hangeks
terminative		hanguni	hangudeni
essive		hanguna	hangudena
abessive		hanguta	hangudeta
comitative		hanguga	hangudega

From Proto-Finnic *hanki.

hang (genitive hange, partitive hange)

1. snowdrift; blanket of snow

Declension of hang (ÕS type 22i/külm, length gradation)
		singular	plural
nominative		hang	hanged
accusative	nom.
	gen.	hange
genitive			hangede
partitive		hange	hangi hangesid
illative		hange hangesse	hangedesse hangisse
inessive		hanges	hangedes hangis
elative		hangest	hangedest hangist
allative		hangele	hangedele hangile
adessive		hangel	hangedel hangil
ablative		hangelt	hangedelt hangilt
translative		hangeks	hangedeks hangiks
terminative		hangeni	hangedeni
essive		hangena	hangedena
abessive		hangeta	hangedeta
comitative		hangega	hangedega

• “hang”, in [EKSS] Eesti keele seletav sõnaraamat [Descriptive Dictionary of the Estonian Language] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2009

From an unattested stem with the suffix -g.

• IPA^(key): [ˈhɒŋɡ]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒŋɡ

hang (plural hangok)

1. voice

   felemeli a hangját ― to raise one's voice

2. sound

   lépések hangja ― the sound of footsteps

• hang 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.

• IPA^(key): /ˈhaŋ/
• Rhymes: -haŋ
• Hyphenation: hang

Inherited from Malay هڠ (hang),

hang

1. (archaic) male pronoun

Unknown (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

hang (plural hang-hang)

1. (archaic) hunter's shelter

• “hang” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

hang f

1. h-prothesized form of ang

hang m (invariable)

1. (music) Hang

• IPA^(key): [haŋ]
• Rhymes: -aŋ
• Hyphenation: hang

Doublet of engkau.

hang (Jawi spelling هڠ)

1. (informal, Kedah, Penang, Perlis) The person being spoken to; you.

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

hang (Jawi spelling هڠ)

1. (Kedah) Hiding place of a hunter from a wild animal.

   Synonym: ran

• “hang” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.

hang

1. Nonstandard spelling of hāng.
2. Nonstandard spelling of háng.
3. Nonstandard spelling of hǎng.
4. Nonstandard spelling of hàng.

• 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.

• IPA^(key): /haːŋ¹/

From Proto-Vietic *haːŋ. Cognate with Vietnamese hang.

hang

1. (Mường Bi) cave

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

hang

1. (Mường Bi) roasted

hang

1. (Mường Bi) to roast

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

hang

1. (Mường Bi) boiled

• Nguyễn Văn Khang, Bùi Chỉ, Hoàng Văn Hành (2002) Từ điển Mường - Việt (Muong - Vietnamese dictionary)‎^[8], Hanoi: Nhà xuất bản Văn hoá Dân tộc Hà Nội.

hang

1. (intransitive) simple past of henge

hang

1. past of henga

• (Thạch An – Tràng Định) IPA^(key): [haːŋ˧˥]
• (Trùng Khánh) IPA^(key): [haːŋ˦]

From Proto-Tai *trwɤːŋᴬ. Cognate with Thai หาง (hǎang), Northern Thai ᩉᩣ᩠ᨦ, Lao ຫາງ (hāng), Lü ᦠᦱᧂ (ḣaang), Tai Dam ꪬꪱꪉ, Shan ႁၢင် (hǎang), Tai Nüa ᥞᥣᥒᥴ (háang), Ahom 𑜍𑜂𑜫 (raṅ), Zhuang rieng or riengz, Bouyei riangl.

hang (𭯢)

1. tail

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

hang

1. to cook; to fry

• Hoàng Văn Ma, Lục Văn Pảo, Hoàng Chí (2006) Từ điển Tày-Nùng-Việt [Tay-Nung-Vietnamese dictionary] (in Vietnamese), Hanoi: Nhà xuất bản Từ điển Bách khoa Hà Nội
• Lương Bèn (2011) Từ điển Tày-Việt [Tay-Vietnamese dictionary]‎^[9][10] (in Vietnamese), Thái Nguyên: Nhà Xuất bản Đại học Thái Nguyên

hang

1. not yet

• Rika Hayami-Allen (2001). A Descriptive Study of the Language of Ternate, the Northern Moluccas, Indonesia. University of Pittsburgh.

From Proto-Vietic *haːŋ. Cognate with Vietnamese hang, Muong hang.

IPA^(key): /haːŋ¹/

hang

1. (Cuối Chăm) cave

From Proto-Vietic *haːŋ (“cave”). Possibly related to the word reconstructed as Proto-Mon-Khmer *ʔaaŋ (“to open”) by Shorto (2006).

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [haːŋ˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [haːŋ˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [haːŋ˧˧]

(classifier cái) hang • (𡎟, 馨, 𧯄, 𧯅, 𥧎)

1. cave

   Synonym: động

2. den

• There seems to be little consistency on which between hang or động would be used in cave names (for examples, hang Sơn Đoòng, but động Phong Nha). In some cases, both can be seen used. In translation of foreign cave names, hang seems to be universally used and not động.

• ganh

Compare English hang.

• IPA^(key): /haŋ/

hang

1. A person that someone hangs out with.

• gooudee hang

• ung (“hung”)

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 42

hang

1. juice, curry
2. yawn

hang

1. to yawn

• Samson Alexander Lotven (2021) The Sound Systems of Zophei Dialects and Other Maraic Languages (Dissertation)‎^[11]