piercing

See also: Piercing

English

Etymology

From pierce +‎ -ing.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɪɹsɪŋ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɪəsɪŋ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)sɪŋ
• Hyphenation: piercing

Verb

piercing

1. present participle and gerund of pierce

Noun

piercing (countable and uncountable, plural piercings)

A Dinka woman wearing several piercings.

1. gerund of pierce
3. A hole made in the body so that jewellery can be worn through it.

   ear piercing

5. An item of jewellery designed to be fitted through a piercing (noun sense 2).

Derived terms

• body piercing
• daith piercing
• industrial piercing
• lip piercing
• Madonna piercing
• Medusa piercing
• Monroe piercing
• nose piercing
• piercing gun
• septum piercing

Descendants

• → Catalan: pírcing
• → French: piercing
• → German: Piercing
• → Hebrew: פִּירְסִינְג
• → Portuguese: piercing, pírcingue (Portugal, adapted form)
• → Spanish: pirsin

Translations

hole for jewelry — see also perforation

• Armenian: թորիծ (hy) (tʻoric)
• Catalan: pírcing (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 刺穿 (zh) (cìchuān), 穿洞 (zh) (chuāndòng), 沖孔 / 冲孔 (chōngkǒng)

• Dutch: piercing (nl) c
• Finnish: lävistys (fi)
• French: piercing (fr) m
• Georgian: პირსინგი (ṗirsingi)
• German: Piercing (de) n
• Italian: foro (it) m
• Japanese: ピアスホール (piasu hōru)
• Polish: piercing (pl) m
• Portuguese: piercing m, pírcingue m
• Russian: пи́рсинг (ru) m (pírsing), прока́лывание (ru) n (prokályvanije)
• Spanish: pirsin (es) m, piercing (es) m
• Swedish: piercing (sv) c
• Turkish: pirsing (tr)

the jewelry itself

• Bulgarian: пирсинг m (pirsing)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: lävistys (fi)
• French: piercing (fr) m
• Georgian: პირსინგი (ṗirsingi)
• Italian: piercing (it) m
• Japanese: ピアス (ja) (piasu)
• Korean: 피어싱 (pieosing)
• Portuguese: pírcingue m, piercing m
• Spanish: pirsin (es) m, piercing (es) m
• Turkish: pirsing (tr), hızma (tr)

Adjective

piercing (comparative more piercing, superlative most piercing)

1. Appearing to look deeply into; penetrating.

   Synonym: gimlet

   piercing eyes

2. Of temperature, extremely cold so that it penetrates through clothing and shelter.

   Synonym: raw

3. Of sound, loud and sharp; shrill.

   The piercing noise of the children could be heard two blocks from the elementary school.

   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbj&oslash￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 155:

     In the meantime the saw was stopped and two of the men began filing and sharpening the blades, which produced such a piercing sound that it went through bone and marrow.

Derived terms

• armour-piercing, armor-piercing
• ear-piercing
• nonpiercing
• piercingly
• piercingness
• unpiercing

Translations

appearing to look deeply into; penetrating

• Bulgarian: проницателен (bg) (pronicatelen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 尖利 (zh) (jiānlì)

• Finnish: läpitunkeva
• German: durchdringend (de), stechend (de)
• Italian: pungente (it), penetrante (it)
• Latin: penetrālis
• Spanish: punzante (es)

of temperature - extremely cold

• Bulgarian: пронизващ (bg) (pronizvašt)
• German: beißend (de)
• Italian: penetrante (it)
• Māori: kōtaratara, tio (mi)

of sound - shrill

• Belarusian: прані́злівы (pranízlivy), прарэзлівы (prarezlivy)
• Bulgarian: пронизителен (bg) (pronizitelen)
• German: durchdringend (de), schrill (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: ὀξύφωνος (oxúphōnos)

• Latin: strīdulus
• Māori: tīkākā, tīwharawhara

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: akretona
• French: perçant (fr)
• Māori: mākinakina
• Norman: pèrchant
• Russian: пронзи́тельный (ru) (pronzítelʹnyj)

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English piercing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpiːr.sɪŋ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: pier‧cing

Noun

piercing m (plural piercings, diminutive piercinkje n)

1. piercing (ornament)

Derived terms

• lippiercing
• navelpiercing
• neuspiercing
• tepelpiercing
• wenkbrauwpiercing

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English piercing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɛʁ.siŋ/

• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

Noun

piercing m (plural piercings)

1. a piercing

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English piercing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpir.sinɡ/, /ˈpir.sin/
• Rhymes: -irsinɡ, -irsin
• Hyphenation: pìer‧cing

Noun

piercing m (invariable)

1. piercing (jewellery worn through a hole in the skin or tongue)

Anagrams

• ciprigne, precingi

Polish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English piercing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpir.siŋk/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -irsiŋk
• Syllabification: pier‧cing

Noun

piercing m inan

1. piercing (jewellery worn through a hole in the skin or tongue)

Declension

Declension of piercing

	singular
nominative	piercing
genitive	piercingu
dative	piercingowi
accusative	piercing
instrumental	piercingiem
locative	piercingu
vocative	piercingu

Further reading

• piercing in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• piercing in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• pírcingue (Portugal, adapted form)

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English piercing.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈpiʁ.sĩ/ [ˈpih.sĩ]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈpiʁ.sĩ/ [ˈpih.sĩ]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /ˈpiɾ.sĩ/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ˈpiʁ.sĩ/ [ˈpiχ.sĩ]
  • (Caipira) IPA^(key): /ˈpiɻ.sĩ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈpiɾ.sĩɡ/

• Homophone: pírcingue (Portugal)

Noun

piercing m (plural piercings)

1. piercing (hole for jewelry)
2. piercing (the jewelry itself)
   • 1999 March, Zeca Baleiro, “Piercing” (0:19 from the start), in Vô Imbolá ft. Faces do Subúrbio, Rio de Janeiro: MZA Music:

     Tire o seu piercing do caminho / Que eu quero passar / Quero passar, com a minha dor

     Take your piercing out of my way / Because I wanna get away / Wanna get away with my pain

   • 2002, “Documento Trololó – Sadomasoquistas”, in Hermes e Renato‎^[1], spoken by Josue (Marco Antônio Alves), São Paulo, via MTV Brasil:

     Eu comecei com um piercingzinho na orelha, né, ue na época, não era nem piercing, era brinco na orelha. E, aí, aderi à moda, cara. Virou não só moda mas um prazer, né, que a dor do piercing me proporcionava. Hoje em dia, eu tenho piercing pelo corpo inteiro. Eu sou viciado em piercing. Eu posso te dizer que eu sou viciado em piercing.

     I started with a small piercing in my ear, you know, because, at the time, it wasn't even a "piercing". It was an earring. And, then, I got into it, dude. It wasn't only a fashiontrend but a pleasure, you know, the pain that getting a piercing provided me. Nowadays, I have piercings all over my body, I'm addicted to piercings. I can tell you I'm addicted to piercings.

Further reading

• “piercing”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “piercing”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Spanish

Alternative forms

• pirsin

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English piercing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpiɾsin/ [ˈpiɾ.sĩn], /ˈpiɾsinɡ/ [ˈpiɾ.sĩŋɡ]
  • Rhymes: -iɾsin, -iɾsinɡ
• IPA^(key): /ˈpjeɾθinɡ/ [ˈpjeɾ.θĩŋɡ], /pjeɾˈθinɡ/ [pjeɾˈθĩŋɡ] (Spain, Equatorial Guinea)
• IPA^(key): /ˈpjeɾsinɡ/ [ˈpjeɾ.sĩŋɡ], /pjeɾˈsinɡ/ [pjeɾˈsĩŋɡ] (Latin America, Philippines)
  • Rhymes: -eɾθinɡ, -inɡ (Spain, Equatorial Guinea)
  • Rhymes: -eɾsinɡ, -inɡ (Latin America, Philippines)
• Syllabification: pier‧cing

Noun

piercing m (plural piercings)

1. piercing

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Further reading

• “piercing”, in Diccionario panhispánico de dudas [Panhispanic Dictionary of Doubts] (in Spanish), 2nd edition, Royal Spanish Academy; Association of Academies of the Spanish Language, 2023, →ISBN
• Manuel Seco; Olimpia Andrés; Gabino Ramos (3 August 2023), “piercing”, in Diccionario del español actual [Dictionary of Current Spanish] (in Spanish), third digital edition, Fundación BBVA [BBVA Foundation]

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from English piercing.

En ung man med piercingar
A young man with piercings

Noun

piercing c

1. piercing (body art)

Declension

Declension of piercing

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	piercing	piercings
	definite	piercingen	piercingens
plural	indefinite	piercingar	piercingars
	definite	piercingarna	piercingarnas

Derived terms

• ansiktspiercing
• kroppspiercing

Turkish

Etymology

From English piercing.

Noun

piercing (definite accusative piercingi, plural piercingler)

1. piercing

References

• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–), “piercing”, in Nişanyan Sözlük