hang
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
4 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "hang", 4-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "hang" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "hang" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
hang is aEnglishverb. It means: To be or remain suspended. Pronounced /ˈhæŋ/. It ranks #2,487 in English word frequency. Often confused with HG and hn.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | hang |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈhæŋ/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #2,487 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for hang is 4 letters long, classified as averb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈhæŋ/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,487 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 21 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 6 documented wrong-spelling variants for hang, with forms such as "ahng", "hagn", and "hangg". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "HG", "hn", "has", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: 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), respectively from the transitive verb Proto-West Germanic *hą̄han and the intransitive v… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is hang, spelled H-A-N-G, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1To be or remain suspended.
- 2To float, as if suspended.
- 3To veer in one direction.
- 4To rebound unexpectedly or unusually slowly, due to backward spin on the ball or imperfections of the ground.
- 5To hold or bear in a suspended or inclined manner or position instead of erect.
- 6To cause (something) to be suspended, as from a hook, hanger, hinges, or the like.
- 7To kill (someone) by suspension from the neck, usually as a form of execution or suicide.
- 8To 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.
- 9(used in maledictions) To damn.
- 10To loiter; to hang around; to spend time idly.
- 11To exhibit (an object) by hanging.
- 12To apply (wallpaper or drywall to a wall).
- 13To decorate (something) with hanging objects.
- 14To remain persistently in one's thoughts.
- 15To prevent from reaching a decision, especially by refusing to join in a verdict that must be unanimous.
- 16To stop responding to manual input devices such as the keyboard and mouse.
- 17To cause (a program or computer) to stop responding.
- 18To cause (a piece) to become vulnerable to capture.
- 19To be vulnerable to capture.
- 20To throw a hittable off-speed pitch.
- 21To attach or cause to stick (a charge or accusation, etc.).
Etymology
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), respectively from the transitive verb Proto-West Germanic *hą̄han and the intransitive verb *hangēn; also probably influenced by Old Norse hengja (“to suspend”) and hanga (“to be suspended”); all from Proto-Germanic *hanhaną and *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”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ahng,hagn,hangg,hanng,hhang,hnag
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for hang
Misspelling Variants of "hang"
Frequency rank: #2,487 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter H in our English index: