ping
/pɪŋ/noun, verb
ping is spelled P-I-N-G: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 5.8 times per million words in written English, the 10,196th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, ping means “A high-pitched, short and somewhat sharp sound” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of ping is pings.
How many letters and syllables are in ping?
| Letters | 4: P-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 5.8 times per million words; the 10,196th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is ping?
Ping appears 5.8 times per million words in written English, the 10,196th 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 ping?
- /pɪŋ/
Ping has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-ping.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of ping
- pings plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- pinging participle, present
- pinged past, participle
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does ping mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A high-pitched, short and somewhat sharp sound.
My car used to make an odd ping, but after the last oil change it went away.
- 2
A pulse of high-pitched or ultrasonic sound whose echoes provide information about nearby objects and vessels.
The submarine sent out a ping and got an echo from a battleship.
- 3
A packet which a remote host is expected to echo, thus indicating its presence.
The network is overloaded from all the pings going out.
- 4
An email or other message sent requesting acknowledgement.
I sent a ping to the insurance company to see if they received our claim.
- 5
Latency.
- 6
A means of highlighting a feature on the game map so that allied players can see it.
- 7
A notification.
verb
- 1
To make a high-pitched, short and somewhat sharp sound.
My car was pinging until my last oil change.
- 2
To emit a signal and then listen for its echo in order to detect objects.
- 3
To send a packet in order to determine whether a host is present, particularly by use of the ping utility.
I'm pinging their server.
- 4
To send an email or other message to someone in hopes of eliciting a response.
I'll ping the insurance company again to see if they've received our claim.
- 5
colloquialTo flick.
I pinged the crumb off the table with my finger.
- 6
colloquialTo bounce.
The ball pinged off the wall and came hurtling back.
- 7
colloquialTo cause something to bounce.
- 8
colloquialTo call out audibly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Ping in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
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 ping come from?
Partly onomatopoeic, and partly continuing Middle English pingen (“to push, shove, pierce, stab, prod, goad, urge, feel remorse, incite”), from Old English pyngan (“to prick”), in turn likely from pungere. Compare English pang.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).