hang

Pronunciation

• IPA: /hæŋ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English hongen, hangen, from 1137,^[2][3] from a fusion of two Old English verbs: inherited from Old English hōn (“to suspend”), a strong verb with past tense heng,^[4][2][5] and hangian (“to be suspended”), weak, with past tense hangode,^[4][2][5] probably also influenced by Old Norse hengja “to suspend” and hanga “to be suspended”.^[4][2][3] They go back to Proto-Germanic *hanhan and *hanganan,^[4] also the source of Dutch hangen and German hängen,^[4][2] and to Proto-Indo-European *konk- (“to hang”),^[4][2] which also gave Hittite gang- “to hang”, Sanskrit śaṅkate “wavers, hesitates” and Latin cunctārī “to delay”.^[4][2][5] It is related to hinge.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English, about 1000, both “to suspend” and “to be suspended”.^[2][7] As a method of execution it is in late Old English, but at first specifically of crucifixion.^[4][6]

Semantic evolution

The spelling with a never died out and became the standard after the 1550s, except in the north of Britain.^[2] In the 16th century northern English speakers adopted hung as the past participle, completing the series hing, hang, hung,^[2][4] and in the 17th century hung became standard English;^[2] hanged survived in legal language, for capital punishment, and in phrases taken from it, such as I'll be hanged.^[4][2][6] Hang back, to be reluctant, is from the 1580s,^[4] and hang fire, from 1781, was first of guns slow to go off when the powder in the pan smouldered.^[4][6] Hang around, to loiter, is from 1828, American English,^[4] and the American sense “to come to a standstill”, as in a hung jury, from 1848.^[4] Teen slang “to spend time” is recorded by 1951.^[4] The noun meant a sling in 1473–74 and a curtain about 1500;^[2][4] the way cloth hangs is from 1797,^[4][2] and to get the hang of something, to become capable, is from 1834 in American English, of forgotten origin.^[4] Hangman is from 1345,^[2] hangover from 1894 and hangout from 1895.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – to suspend; to be suspended.^[2][7]
• 1137 – Middle English hongen.^[2]
• 1345 – hangman.^[2]
• 1473–74 – noun, a sling.^[2]
• 1580s – hang back.^[4]
• 16th–17th century – hung as the past participle.^[2]
• 1781 – hang fire.^[4]
• 1797 – the way a thing hangs.^[4][2]
• 1828 – hang around.^[4]
• 1834 – get the hang of.^[4]
• 1894 – hangover.^[2]
• 1951 – to spend time.^[4]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To fasten or be fastened from above with no support from below; to suspend.
2. To attach so as to move freely at the point of attachment: hang a door.
3. To execute or be executed by suspending by the neck.
4. To fix to a wall: hang wallpaper.
5. To remain suspended in the air; to hover.
6. To droop or bend downward.
7. To depend: everything hangs on the result.
8. Of a jury, to fail to reach a verdict.
9. (informal) To spend time idly: hang out.

Noun

1. The way in which something hangs.
2. (informal) The knack of doing or understanding something: get the hang of it.

Word family

• hangable
• hangdog
• hangbird
• hangtag
• rehang
• hanger
• hang-glide

Related words

• hangman
• hangover
• hinge
• hanker

Usage notes

The past tense and participle is hung, except in the sense of executing by hanging, where hanged is usual.^[8][6][9] The American Heritage uses hanged also in the exclamation of exasperation I'll be hanged.^[10]

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 s t u v w Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin