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Etymology and origin of the English word bong

English has two main words spelled bong: an imitative word for the sound of a bell, recorded from the mid-19th century, and a word for a water pipe, borrowed from Thai in the 1970s.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

bong1 sound of a bell

Confidence
Established
Formation
Onomatopoeia
First attested
1849

Etymology

The sound of a bell is imitative.[1][3][2][5][6] The OED compares the earlier verb dong.[1] Collins and the Oxford Dictionary of English date it only to the 20th century,[7][8] and the Shorter Oxford calls it originally American.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

As an interjection representing a deep, resonant sound such as that of a large bell or a gong, often repeated: 1849, in G. H. Rodwell's Old London Bridge.[1] The noun for such a sound follows in 1855;[1] Merriam-Webster gives 1853,[2] and Dictionary.com 1855–60.[9]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline records the noun only from 1918,[6] and the Concise and Oxford Dictionary of English from the 1920s;[10][8] the OED's revision found it in the mid-19th century.[1] The verb, to strike something so that it rings, is recorded from 1894, and the intransitive sense, to make such a sound, from 1918, in a letter of James Thurber.[1] Merriam-Webster dates the verb to 1931.[2] Climbers took the verb as the name of a large piton made of folded sheet metal (1960), after the low sound it makes when hammered in.[1][5]

Timeline

  • 1849 – interjection, imitating the sound of a large bell.[1]
  • 1853 – noun, the deep sound of a bell (Merriam-Webster).[2]
  • 1855 – noun, a low resonant sound (OED).[1]
  • 1894 – verb, to strike something so that it rings.[1]
  • 1918 – verb, to make a low resonant sound.[1]
  • 1960 – in mountaineering, a large piton.[1][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A deep, resonant sound, like that of a large bell or a gong: the bong of the town clock.[7][2][11]
  2. In mountaineering, a large piton made of folded metal, used in wide cracks.[1][5]

Verb

  1. To make a deep, resonant sound: The grandfather clock bonged twelve times.[7][2][11]
  2. To strike or ring something so that it gives out such a sound.[1][11]

bong2 water pipe

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1971 Marijuana Review
Borrowed from
Thai บ้อง
Ultimate origin
Thai บ้อง

Etymology

The water pipe is borrowed from Thai บ้อง (bong),[1][2][3][5][6] a specific use of the Thai word for a tubular section of bamboo, open at one end and closed at the other by the node, which has many uses;[1] Merriam-Webster glosses the Thai word as a hollow piece of wood or bamboo,[2] and the Oxford dictionaries as a cylindrical wooden tube.[5][10][6] The OED compares a Thai compound of the same word meaning a cannabis pipe.[1] According to Etymonline, the word is said to have been brought back by veterans of the Vietnam War.[6] Collins calls it of unknown origin, and Dictionary.com of uncertain origin.[7][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A pipe for smoking cannabis, in which the smoke is drawn through water: 1971, in the Marijuana Review.[1][2][12]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline places the word in American slang of the 1960s.[6] Green's Dictionary of Slang records it from 1971, also as bhong and bongo, with compounds such as bong hit, a puff on such a pipe.[13] Australians made a verb to bong, to smoke cannabis through one (1979).[13]

Timeline

  • 1971 – a water pipe for smoking cannabis.[1][2][13]
  • 1979 – verb, in Australia, to smoke cannabis through a bong.[13]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A water pipe for smoking marijuana or other drugs, made of a bottle or upright tube partly filled with liquid and a smaller tube ending in a bowl.[2][11][7]

Verb

  1. (slang) To smoke marijuana through such a pipe.[13]

Word family

  • bong hit
  • bongwater
  • dong

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  4. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  8. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  10. ^ a b Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  12. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  13. ^ a b c d e Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
Cite this entry

“Bong.” Etymologically, 31 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/bong. Accessed 31 Oct. 2026.

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