# hinge

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈhɪnd͡ʒ/ · frequency rank #19,106

## Definitions
1. A jointed or flexible device that allows the pivoting of a door etc.
2. A naturally occurring joint resembling such hardware in form or action, as in the shell of a bivalve.
3. A stamp hinge, a folded and gummed paper rectangle for affixing postage stamps in an album.
4. A principle, or a point in time, on which subsequent reasonings or events depend.
5. The median of the upper or lower half of a batch, sample, or probability distribution.
6. One of the four cardinal points, east, west, north, or south.
7. A movement that presents itself as rotation when an off-centre fixed point is taken into account.
8. In polyamory, a person connected emotionally or sexually to two others who are not connected to each other.
9. To be in poor health; to be out of sorts.

## Etymology
From Middle English henge (“hinge”), from Old English *henġ or *henġe (“hinge”), from Proto-West Germanic *hangiju or *hangī; compare Old English *henġe- in henġeclif (“overhanging cliff”), Old English henġen (“hanging; that upon which a thing is hung”). Akin to Scots heenge (“hinge”), Saterland Frisian Hänge (“hinge”), Low German henge (“hook, hinge, handle”), Dutch heng (“moving leaf of a hinge”), geheng (“hinge”), Middle Dutch henghe, hanghe (“hook, hinge, handle”), Scots hingel (“any attachment by which something is hung or fastened”), Dutch hengel (“hook”), hengsel (“handle”), dialectal German Hängel (“hook, joint”), German Henkel (“handle, hook”), Danish hængsel (“hinge”), Faroese hongsl (“hinge”), Icelandic hengsli (“hinge”), Norwegian hengsel (“hinge”), Swedish hängsle (“suspender”), Old English hōn (“to hang”), hangian (“to cause to hang, hang up”). More at hang.

## Easily confused with
- **huge** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hinge-vs-huge)
- **hong** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hinge-vs-hong)
- **hire** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hinge-vs-hire)
- **hung** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hinge-vs-hung)
- **hint** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hinge-vs-hint)
- **hive** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hinge-vs-hive)
- **hone** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hinge-vs-hone)
- **hints** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hinge-vs-hints)
- **Hodge** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hinge-vs-hodge)
- **hunger** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hinge-vs-hunger)
- **hinted** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hinge-vs-hinted)
- **hinges** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hinge-vs-hinges)
- **hinged** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hinge-vs-hinged)
- **hin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hin-vs-hinge)
- **high** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/high-vs-hinge)
- **hang** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hang-vs-hinge)
- **hide** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hide-vs-hinge)
- **hike** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hike-vs-hinge)
- **hind** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hind-vs-hinge)
- **hing** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hing-vs-hinge)

## Common misspellings (7)
`hhinge`, `higne`, `hineg`, `hingge`, `hinnge`, `hnige`, `ihnge`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/hinge