gang

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɡæŋ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old English gang (“a going, journey, way”), reinforced by Old Norse gangr (“a going; a group of men”),^[2][3][4] both from Proto-Germanic *gangaz.^[2][3] Old Saxon, Old High German and Dutch gang and Gothic gagg are related.^[2][4] It is perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *ghengh- (“to step”), the source of Lithuanian žengiu “I stride” and Sanskrit jáṅghā “shank”;^[2][3] Etymonline does not relate it to go, while Hoad and the Shorter Oxford link it to the Germanic base of go.^[2][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Steps, goings, journeys, in Old English only (about 825 in the OED);^[6] a journey from about 950,^[6] and a way or passage in Middle English (1199 in Barnhart).^[3]

Semantic evolution

The modern senses probably came by way of “a set of things used together in going”, especially a set of tools (the mid-14th century in Etymonline, about 1340 in Barnhart).^[2][3] By the 1620s sailors used it for a company of workmen, a ship's crew,^[2][7] and by the 1630s, with disapproval, for any band of people going about together, then a criminal band.^[2][7] A gang of slaves on a plantation is from 1724 in American English,^[2] and a gang of delinquent city boys by 1855.^[2] The verb, to arrange in a gang, is from 1856,^[6][2] and gang up (on) from 1919 in Etymonline, 1925 in the OED.^[2][6] The old “going” sense survives in gangway and gangplank.^[2][7]

Timeline

• c. 825 – steps, goings.^[6]
• c. 1340 – a set of things.^[3]
• 1620s – a ship's crew, a company of workmen.^[2]
• 1630s – a band of people.^[2]
• 1724 – a gang of slaves.^[2]
• 1855 – a street gang of boys.^[2]
• 1856 – verb, to form into a gang.^[6][2]
• 1896 – gangster.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A group of criminals who work together.
2. A group of young people who spend time together, especially one that causes trouble.
3. An organized group of workers.
4. (informal) A group of friends.
5. A set of similar tools or devices arranged to work together.

Verb

1. To form or act as a group; with up (on), to join together against someone.
2. To arrange or operate (tools or devices) as a set.

Word family

• ganger
• gangling
• gangrel
• gangplank
• gangway
• gang-rape
• gangboard
• gangland

Related words

• gangster

Usage notes

In Scots and northern dialect gang is a separate verb meaning “to go”, from Old English gangan,^[5][8] as in Burns's “gang aft a-gley”.^[5]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c 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 Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster