tong

See also: tóng, tòng, tông, tōng, töng, tổng, tǒng, and tǫng

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /tɒŋ/
• Rhymes: -ɒŋ

Etymology 1

From Old English tange, from Proto-Germanic *tangō, from Proto-Indo-European *denḱ- (“to bite”). Cognate with Old Norse tǫng (modern Icelandic töng), Old High German zanga (modern German Zange). Other cognates include Sanskrit दशति (daśati, “to bite”) and Albanian dang (“bite, nip”).

Noun

tong (plural tongs)

1. An instrument or tool used for manipulating things in a fire without touching them with the hands.
   • 1998, Alberdina Houtman, Marcel Poorthuis, Joshua Schwartz (editors), Sanctity of time and space in tradition and modernity, page 232:

     […] these attributes are concrete expressions of God's care and providence and therefore not man-made. This explains the quite bizarre presence of a ‘pair’ of tongs in some lists: in order to make a tong one needs a tong, and how could the first tong be made without a tong?

Derived terms

• tonging
• port tong

Translations

An instrument or tool used for manipulating things in a fire without touching them with the hands

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: ունելի (hy) (uneli), աքցան (hy) (akʿcʿan)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鉗子 (zh), 钳子 (zh) (qiánzi), 夾具 (zh), 夹具 (zh) (jiājù), 鋏子 (zh), 铗子 (zh) (jiāzi)

• Czech: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: please add this translation if you can
• French: please add this translation if you can
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• Hindi: please add this translation if you can

• Italian: please add this translation if you can
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• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: маша f (maša)
• Portuguese: tenaz (pt) f
• Russian: ками́нные щипцы́ m pl (kamínnyje ščipcý)
• Spanish: tenaza f
• Swedish: tång (sv) c, eldtång c
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

Verb

tong (third-person singular simple present tongs, present participle tonging, simple past and past participle tonged)

1. (intransitive) To use tongs.
2. (transitive) To grab, manipulate or transport something using tongs.

Translations

to use tongs

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: ունելի օգտագործել (uneli ōgtagorcel), աքցան օգտագործել (akʿcʿan ōgtagorcel)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 钳起, 夹起

• Czech: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: please add this translation if you can
• French: please add this translation if you can
• German: please add this translation if you can

• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Italian: please add this translation if you can
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Portuguese: atazanar, atanazar, atenazar (pt)
• Russian: испо́льзовать щипцы́ (ispólʹzovatʹ ščipcý)
• Spanish: usar tenaza
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

to grab, manipulate or transport something using tongs

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: ունելիով վերցնել (uneliov vercʿnel), աքցանով վերցնել (akʿcʿanov vercʿnel)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 钳起

• Czech: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: please add this translation if you can
• French: please add this translation if you can
• German: please add this translation if you can

• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Italian: please add this translation if you can
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Portuguese: atazanar, atanazar, atenazar (pt)
• Russian: захвати́ть щипца́ми (zaxvatítʹ ščipcámi)
• Spanish: usar tenaza
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

See also

• tongs

Etymology 2

From Cantonese 堂 (tong⁴).

Noun

tong (plural tongs)

1. A Chinese secret society or gang.

Translations

secret society

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 堂 (tong⁴)

  Mandarin: 幫會 (zh), 帮会 (zh) (bānghuì), 堂 (zh)

See also

• triad
• yakuza

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Chuukese

Noun

tong

1. love

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɔŋ

• audio

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /tɔŋ/

Etymology 1

From Old Dutch tunga, from Proto-Germanic *tungǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s. Compare West Frisian tonge, English tongue, German Zunge, Danish tunge.

Noun

tong f (plural tongen, diminutive tongetje n)

1. (anatomy) tongue

Etymology 2

Noun

tong m (plural tongen, diminutive tongetje n)

1. A kind of flatfish, the common sole, Solea solea.

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Malay

Etymology 1

From Chinese 桶. Related to tahang.

Noun

tong (plural tong-tong)

1. barrel, tub, bin

Etymology 2

From Dutch ton.

Noun

tong (plural tong-tong)

1. ton

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Mandarin

Romanization

tong

1. Nonstandard spelling of tōng.
2. Nonstandard spelling of tóng.
3. Nonstandard spelling of tǒng.
4. Nonstandard spelling of tòng.

Usage notes

• English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse tǫng

Noun

tong f (definite singular tonga, indefinite plural tenger, definite plural tengene)

1. (a pair of) pliers, pincers

Derived terms

• knipetong

See also

• tang (Bokmål)

References

• “tong” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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Westrobothnian

Etymology 1

From Old Norse þungr, from Proto-Germanic *þunguz, akin to Proto-Slavic *tęžьkъ (compare Serbo-Croatian težak) and Lithuanian tingus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [tʰʊ́ŋː], [tʰóʊ̯ŋ(k)]

  Rhymes: -ʊ́ŋː, -óʊ̯ŋ(k)

Adjective

tong

1. heavy

Derived terms

• tongfälu
• tongfött
• tonghändt
• tongsam
• tȳnj

Noun

tong f

1. Alternative form of tȳnj

Etymology 3

From Old Norse tunga, from Proto-Germanic *tungǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s.

Noun

tong f

1. (anatomy) tongue

Derived terms

• tongbast n (“frenulum linguae”)
• tongspena m (“palatine uvula”)