hangnail
[heɪŋneɪ̯ɫ]noun
hangnail is spelled H-A-N-G-N-A-I-L: 8 letters. It appears about once in every 22 million words in written English, the 143,405th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, hangnail means “A loose, narrow strip of nail tissue protruding from the side edge and anchored near the base of a fingernail or toenail” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of hangnail is hangnails.
How many letters and syllables are in hangnail?
| Letters | 8: H-A-N-G-N-A-I-L |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 22 million words; the 143,405th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is hangnail?
Hangnail appears about once in every 22 million words in written English, the 143,405th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce hangnail?
- /ˈhæŋneɪl/
- US [heɪŋneɪ̯ɫ]
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Wodencafe-hangnail.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of hangnail
- hangnails plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does hangnail mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A loose, narrow strip of nail tissue protruding from the side edge and anchored near the base of a fingernail or toenail.
- 2
A pointed upper corner of the toenail (often created by improperly trimming by rounding the corner) that, as the nail grows, presses into the flesh or protrudes so that it may catch (“hang”) on stockings or shoes.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Hangnail in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense protruding piece of nail tissue or skin near base of fingernail or toenail:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | envie, petite peau |
| German | Niednagel, Neidnagel |
| Portuguese | espiga, espigo, espigão, pelinha |
| Spanish | padrastro, uñero, repelo |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does hangnail come from?
A corruption of agnail (literally “painful (anguished) nail”), by folk-etymological reanalysis as hang + nail; from Middle English agnail, from Old English angnæġl, from ang- (“tight/painful”) + næġl (“nail”). The first part is from Proto-Germanic *anguz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂énǵʰus (“narrow, tight”), while the second is from Proto-Germanic *naglaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃negʰ-. The first component, ang- is also the origin of anguish, anger, and angst, while næġl is the origin of nail.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).