ding

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /dɪŋ/

• Audio (UK)

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• Rhymes: -ɪŋ

From Middle English dingen, dyngen (strong verb), from Old English *dingan (“to ding”), from Proto-Germanic *dingwaną (“to beat”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰen- (“to beat, push”).

Related to Old English dengan (“to ding, beat, strike”, weak verb) and Old Norse dengja (“to hammer”, weak verb); both from Proto-Germanic *dangijaną (“to beat, hammer, peen”), causative of *dingwaną.

Cognate with Icelandic dengja (“to hammer”), Swedish dänga (“to bang, beat”), Danish dænge (“to bang, beat”), German tengeln, dengeln (“to peen”).

ding (plural dings)

1. (informal) Very minor damage, a small dent or chip.
   • 2007 September, “Ding Repairs”, BBC Wales, archived on 5 October 2014:

     If you surf regularly, then you're going to ding your board. Here's a rough guide on how to repair them... If the ding is on the rail, run tape across the ding conforming to the rail curve, leaving a gap to pour in resin and make sure it is sealed to prevent resin escaping and forming dribbles.

2. (colloquial) A rejection.

   I just got my first ding letter.

ding (third-person singular simple present dings, present participle dinging, simple past dinged or (obsolete) dang, past participle dinged or (obsolete) dung)

1. (transitive) To hit or strike.
2. To dash; to throw violently.
   • 1644, John Milton, Areopagitica; a Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England, London: [s.n.], OCLC 879551664:

     to ding the book a coit's distance from him

3. (transitive) To inflict minor damage upon, especially by hitting or striking.
   • 2007 September, “Ding Repairs”, BBC Wales, archived on 5 October 2014:

     If you surf regularly, then you're going to ding your board.

4. (transitive, colloquial) To fire or reject.

   His top school dinged him last week.

5. (transitive, colloquial) To deduct, as points, from (somebody), in the manner of a penalty; to penalize.

   My bank dinged me three bucks for using their competitor's ATM.

   • 2015 August 7, Ron Lieber, “Bringing paternity leave into the mainstream [print version: Paid leave expands for fathers, but will there be any takers?, International New York Times, 10 August 2015, p. 14]”, in The New York Times‎:

     […] [E]mployees don't feel like they're going to get dinged on performance reviews because they had the same goals as a guy who had been there all 12 months with no leave.

6. (transitive, golf) To mishit (a golf ball).

• ding up

• dingbat

Onomatopoeic. Compare ding-dong,

ding (plural dings)

1. The high-pitched resonant sound of a bell.
2. (colloquial, role-playing games, especially video games) The act of levelling up.

ding (third-person singular simple present dings, present participle dinging, simple past and past participle dinged)

1. (intransitive) To make high-pitched sound like a bell.
   • 1824, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], Tales of a Traveller, (please specify |part=1 to 4), Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea, […], OCLC 864083:

     The fretful tinkling of the convent bell evermore dinging among the mountain echoes.

   • 1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, OCLC 145080417:

     These were succeeded by anchor and chain-cable forges, where sledgehammers were dinging upon iron all day long.

2. (transitive) To keep repeating; impress by reiteration, with reference to the monotonous striking of a bell.
   • 1884, Oswald Crawfurd, English comic dramatists

     If I'm to have any good, let it come of itself; not keep dinging it, dinging it into one so.

3. (intransitive, colloquial, role-playing games, especially video games) To level up.

Romanized from Mandarin 鼎 (dǐng).

a ding with an animal mask or taotie

• ting

ding (plural dings or ding)

1. An ancient Chinese vessel with legs and a lid.

From Cantonese 丁 (ding¹).

ding (plural dings)

1. (Hong Kong) An indigenous inhabitant of the New Territories entitled to the building a village house under the Small House Policy.

From Dutch ding, from Old Dutch thing, from Proto-Germanic *þingą.

• Audio

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ding (plural dinge)

1. thing
   • 2016, “Dinge Raak Warm”, in Sal Jy Met My Dans?‎, South Africa, performed by Kurt Darren:

     Dinge raak warm, warm.

     Things touch warm, warm.

From Middle High German ding, from Old High German thing, from Proto-West Germanic *þing (“appointment; meeting; matter”). Cognate with German Ding, English thing.

ding n (plural dingar, diminutive dingale)

1. (Sette Comuni) thing, object

Most often used in the diminutive.

• “ding” in Martalar, Umberto Martello; Bellotto, Alfonso (1974) Dizionario della lingua Cimbra dei Sette Communi vicentini, 1st edition, Roana, Italy: Instituto di Cultura Cimbra A. Dal Pozzo

• IPA^(key): /dɪŋ/

• audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ding
• Rhymes: -ɪŋ

From Middle Dutch dinc, from Old Dutch thing, from Proto-West Germanic *þing, from Proto-Germanic *þingą.

ding n (plural dingen, diminutive dingetje n)

1. matter, thing

• dinges
• onding

• Afrikaans: ding
• Berbice Creole Dutch: dinggi
• Jersey Dutch: däng

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

ding

1. first-person singular present indicative of dingen
2. imperative of dingen

• IPA^(key): /dʲɪɲ/, /dʲɪɲɟ/

From Old Irish ding (“wedge”). See Etymology 2 below.

ding f (genitive singular dinge, nominative plural dingeacha)

1. wedge
2. thickset person

• ging (Ulster)
• ginn (Cois Fharraige)

From Old Irish dingid (“press, force”), from Proto-Celtic *dingeti (“knead, form, press”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰinéǵʰti, nasal infix present of *dʰeyǵʰ- (“to knead, form”).

ding (present analytic dingeann, future analytic dingfidh, verbal noun dingeadh, past participle dingthe)

1. (transitive) wedge; pack tightly, stuff
2. (transitive) make compact; knit, knead

• dingire m (“wedging implement; light hammer”)

• dingireacht f (“wedge-driving; tapping”)

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

ding f (genitive singular dinge, nominative plural dingeacha)

1. dint

ding (present analytic dingeann, future analytic dingfidh, verbal noun dingeadh, past participle dingthe)

1. (transitive) dint

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977), “ding”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “ding”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “dingid”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

From Chinese 釘 (MC teŋ).

ding 

1. nail

ding

1. Nonstandard spelling of dīng.
2. Nonstandard spelling of dǐng.
3. Nonstandard spelling of dìng.

• 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.

ding

1. Alternative form of dingen

ding

1. Alternative form of digne

• dinc, dink, thing

From Proto-West Germanic *þing.

ding n

1. thing, object
2. matter, case

• Middle High German: ding
  • Cimbrian: ding
  • German: Ding
  • Luxembourgish: Déngen
  • Pennsylvania German: Ding

Probably from Old Norse dengja (“to beat, thrash”). Cognate with Swedish dänga, Danish dænge.

• IPA^(key): /dɪŋ/

ding (third-person singular simple present dings, present participle dingin, simple past dang, past participle dung)

1. to beat, hit, strike
2. to beat, excel, defeat
   • 1817, Walter Scott, Rob Roy, II.3:

     ‘Gude help him!—twa lines o' Davie Lindsay would ding a' he ever clerkit.’

From Tavringer Romani dinalo, dingalo (“crazy”), from Romani dinelo (“stupid, crazy”). Related to Sanskrit दीन (dīna, “weak”).

• IPA^(key): /dɪŋ/
• Rhymes: -ɪŋ

ding (comparative mer ding, superlative mest ding)

1. (colloquial) mad, crazy
   • 1968, Peter Himmelstrand (lyrics and music), “Det börjar verka kärlek, banne mej”, performed by Claes-Göran Hederström:

     Jag fattar ingenting / jag är väl lite ding.

     I just don’t get it / I guess I’m a little bit daft.

• The neuter form is usually avoided, compare rädd.

• ding in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• Gerd Carling (2005), “ding”, in Romani i svenskan: Storstadsslang och standardspråk, Stockholm: Carlsson, →ISBN, page 78

• gnid

From Chinese 丁 (MC teŋ).

• (Standard Zhuang) IPA^(key): /tiŋ˨˦/
• Tone numbers: ding¹
• Hyphenation: ding

ding (Sawndip form 丁, 1957–1982 spelling diŋ)

1. the fourth of the ten heavenly stems

• (heavenly stems) diengan; gyap, iet, bingj, ding, fouh, geij, geng, sin, nyaemz, gveiq