Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A narrow strip, as of leather, used for binding or lashing.
  • noun A whip of plaited leather or cord.
  • noun A sandal held on the foot by a strip that fits between the first and second toes and is connected to a strap usually passing over the top or around the sides of the foot.
  • noun A garment for the lower body that exposes the buttocks, consisting of a narrow strip of fabric that passes between the thighs supported by a waistband.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A long narrow strip of leather; a narrow strap, used as a fastening, a halter, reins, the lash of a whip, the latchet of a shoe, and in many other ways. See cut under snow-shoe.
  • To provide, fit, or fasten with a thong.
  • To strike with a thong, or with a similar implement, as the lash of a whip.
  • To rope; stretch out into viscous threads or filaments.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A strap of leather; especially, one used for fastening anything.
  • noun (Zoöl.) the bearded seal. See the Note under Seal.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A strip of leather.
  • noun usually plural, Australia, US An item of footwear, usually of rubber, secured by two straps which join to pass between the big toe and its neighbour.
  • noun UK, US, New Zealand An undergarment or swimwear consisting of very narrow strips designed to cover just the genitals and nothing more.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun underpants resembling a G-string; worn by women especially under very tight pants
  • noun a backless sandal held to the foot by a thong between the big toe and the second toe
  • noun a thin strip of leather; often used to lash things together
  • noun minimal clothing worn by stripteasers; a narrow strip of fabric that covers the pubic area, passes between the thighs, and is supported by a waistband
  • noun leather strip that forms the flexible part of a whip

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English thwong.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English thong, thwong, thwang, from Old English þwong, þwang, þweng, þwæng ("thong, band, strap, cord, strip of leather; phylactery"), from Proto-Germanic *þwangiz, *þwanguz (“coercion, constraint, band, clamp, strap”), from Proto-Indo-European *twenk- (“to squeeze, press, pressure”). Cognate with Scots thwang, thwayng, thang ("thong"), Middle Low German dwenge ("clamp, jaws, steel-trap"), German Zwinge ("vise, clamp"), Norwegian dialectal tveng ("shoestrap, shoelace"), Icelandic þvengur ("strap, thong, latchet").

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word thong.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • See also fartbreaker, if you dare.

    June 18, 2008

  • Wayne thongs Jayne an amorphous wallet thing

    (he is into leathercraft) and, guess what? -

    they both think for five minutes each morning.

    - Peter Reading, It's a Small World, from Fiction, 1979

    June 26, 2008

  • Heyyy...I like this word as a verb! (As a noun, I could do without it.)

    June 26, 2008

  • It *is* fun to say, as evidenced by the infamous "Thong Song".

    June 26, 2008

  • *hiding from the inevitable earworm*

    June 26, 2008

  • I, too, like this as a verb.

    June 26, 2008

  • Sandalous!

    March 21, 2010