pinger
/ˈpɪŋ.ɚ/noun
pinger is a noun meaning “A device that emits a short, high-pitched sound burst, such as in sonar or other echo location systems” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled P-I-N-G-E-R and has 2 syllables, and it appears about once in every 24 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of pinger is pingers.
What does pinger mean?
noun
- 1
A device that emits a short, high-pitched sound burst, such as in sonar or other echo location systems.
We couldn't take the boat into the shallows near the reef because our sonar pinger was broken.
- 2
A device that periodically emits a signal that can be monitored to permit movement tracking.
The scientist attached a pinger to the carapace of the sea turtle to track its migration.
- 3
A computer program that sends a ping message over a network.
Some people like fancy pingers with extra features, but I always use the default ping application.
- 4
A user of a ping program; one who pings.
Every time we replace the main page, we get flooded with pingers making sure our web site is still there.
- 5
slangAn illicit drug, especially ecstasy, taken for recreational purposes.
That was a great party. Everyone took a pinger or two.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce pinger?
- UK /ˈpɪŋ.ə(ɹ)/
- US /ˈpɪŋ.ɚ/
Pinger has 2 syllables (counted from the pronunciation).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-pinger.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of pinger
- pingers plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is pinger?
Pinger appears about once in every 24 million words in written English, the 148,541st 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).
Where does pinger come from?
From ping + -er.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).