pong
/pɑŋ/noun, verb
pong is spelled P-O-N-G: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.8 times per million words in written English, the 16,005th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, pong means “A stench, a bad smell” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of pong is pongs.
How many letters and syllables are in pong?
| Letters | 4: P-O-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.8 times per million words; the 16,005th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is pong?
Pong appears 2.8 times per million words in written English, the 16,005th 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 pong?
- UK /pɒŋ/
- /pɔŋ/
- US /pɑŋ/
Pong 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: En-au-pong.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with pong?
6 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as pong from its last stressed vowel (/ɑŋ/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of pong
- pongs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- ponging participle, present
- ponged participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does pong mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
CommonwealthIrelandUKslangA stench, a bad smell.
- 2
A packet sent in reply to a ping, thereby indicating the presence of a host.
- 3
Alternative form of pung.
verb
- 1
CommonwealthIrelandUKslangTo stink, to smell bad.
- 2
derogatoryslangTo deliver a line of a play in an arch, suggestive or unnatural way, so as to draw undue attention to it.
- 3
slangTo invent a line of dialogue when one has forgotten the actual line.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Pong in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense bad smell:
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 pong come from?
Probably from Romani pan (“to stink”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).