dong
Pluraldong, dongs
Pluraldong, dongs
- 1A crude slang term for the penis.
The comedian's whole routine seemed to revolve around jokes about his dong.
He took a hard knock to the dong and limped off the field.
Similardick, cock, schlong, willy
Note
Nobody knows where this slang comes from. It surfaces in the 1890s, and the guesses run from dingus, a stand-in for unnameable things, to the clang of a bell's clapper, as in ding-dong. It is crude but comic: Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint (1969) and Monty Python's "Penis Song" (1983) use it for laughs. Keep it out of formal or clinical writing.
- 2A low-pitched, metallic ringing sound.
A slow dong from the buoy marked the edge of the harbor.
The temple's heavy gong gave off a series of deep dongs that lingered in the air.
Similarbong, clang, toll, peal
Note
An echoic word, where the sound is the meaning. Dong is the deeper half of ding-dong, suited to big bells, buoys and gongs. It is countable, so a bell can give a series of dongs. The same echo also works as a verb in the verb for ringing.
- 3To ring out with a low metallic tone, as a church bell or an old clock striking the hour does.
The bell began to dong as the procession passed the square.
The old clock donged twelve times at midnight.
Similartoll, ring, chime, bong, clang
Note
A regular verb, despite its kinship with bells that ring and rang: the clock donged, and the bell was donging. It is most at home with clocks counting the hours and with bells sounding slowly. It usually stands alone: things dong, but they do not dong something.
- 4A slang term for a foolish or stupid person.
Don't be such a dong. Read the instructions before you start.
He felt like a complete dong after locking his keys in the car.
Similaridiot, fool, dope, dork, plonker
Note
An insult that shares its obscure origin with the anatomical slang. One suggestion about that origin, that donkey lurks in the word, fits this sense best. Because the crude meaning is never far away, calling someone a dong lands harder than calling them a fool, and the word is better kept among friends.
- 5A dildo, specifically one made as a realistic synthetic replica of the penis.
The catalog featured a silicone dong molded for lifelike detail.
Reviewers praised the firmness and texture of the new dong.
Similardildo
Note
The anatomical slang was stretched to cover the object made in its image, so it carries the same crude register as the slang for the penis. It names the realistic kind specifically. Dildo is the broader and more neutral word, and it is the safer choice outside casual talk.
- 6The currency of Vietnam, divided into 100 xu, written with the symbol ₫.
The hotel quoted its room rate in dong rather than dollars.
Travelers often struggle with the many zeros on a dong banknote.
Note
A coin named for its metal: Vietnamese đồng goes back through Middle Chinese to a word for "copper," the same root as Mandarin tóng. In English the plural is usually unchanged (prices in dong), though dongs also occurs. The spelling is shared by unrelated words, including a slang term, the sound of a bell and a Korean city district, so context does the sorting.
- 7In North or South Korea, a local administrative division within a city, ranking below the municipal level.
Their new apartment sits in a busy dong on the edge of Seoul.
Each dong runs its own community center and local office.
Note
Korean 동(洞), "neighborhood," gives English this term for the small district that sits below city level in both Koreas. English keeps it as a borrowed administrative word rather than translating it. It takes the ordinary English plural (the city's dongs), unlike the currency word, which usually stays unchanged.
- 8The former currency of South Vietnam, divided into 100 xu, written with the symbol Đ.
Merchants in Saigon priced their goods in dong before reunification.
He saved a few faded dong notes from his years in the south.
Note
A word for historians and collectors, naming the money of a state that no longer exists, so it belongs in past-tense contexts. Its symbol, Đ, sets it apart on paper from the ₫ of the present-day Vietnamese currency. When the two could be confused, writing "South Vietnamese dong" settles the matter.
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Origins
Borrowed from Vietnamese đồng, from Middle Chinese 銅 ("copper"), from Old Chinese, and cognate with Mandarin 銅/铜 (tóng, "copper").
The origin is unknown. It was perhaps suggested by "dingus" and other names for unnamable objects, perhaps by the sound of striking something (perhaps a bell's clapper; compare "ding-dong"), and perhaps there is an element of "donkey" in it. First attested in the 1890s.
Onomatopoeic, imitating a sound.
From Korean 동(洞) (dong, "neighborhood").