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ding

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ding¹

  • /dɪŋ/ UK, US
  • /ˈdɪŋɡ/ Midlands, Northern England

Rhymes with -ɪŋ

Where it comes from

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

Related to Old English denġan, denċġan (“to ding, knock, 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”).

noun dings

  1. informal Very minor damage caused by being struck; a small dent or chip. Mike hit the bottom and picked up a little ding on his head.
  2. colloquial A rejection. I just got my first ding letter.

verb dings · dinging · dinged · dang

  1. transitive To hit or strike.
  2. To dash; to throw violently. to ding the book a coit's distance from him
  3. colloquial, transitive To inflict minor damage upon, especially by hitting or striking. If you surf regularly, then you're going to ding your board.
  4. colloquial, transitive To fire or reject. His top school dinged him last week.
  5. colloquial, transitive 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.
  6. transitive To mishit (a golf ball).
  7. Scotland, of rain To fall heavily and continually, with great force. The night turn'd dark an' dang on rain, […]

ding²

  • /dɪŋ/ UK, US
  • /ˈdɪŋɡ/ Midlands, Northern England

Rhymes with -ɪŋ

Where it comes from

Onomatopoeic. Compare ding-dong,

noun dings

  1. The high-pitched resonant sound of a bell.
  2. colloquial, especially The act of levelling up.

verb dings · dinging · dinged

  1. intransitive To make a high-pitched resonant sound like a bell. The fretful tinkling of the convent bell evermore dinging among the mountain echoes.
  2. transitive To keep repeating; impress by reiteration, with reference to the monotonous striking of a bell. If I'm to have any good, let it come of itself; not keep dinging it, dinging it into one so.
  3. colloquial, especially, intransitive To level up.

ding³

  • /dɪŋ/ UK, US
  • /ˈdɪŋɡ/ Midlands, Northern England

Rhymes with -ɪŋ

Where it comes from

Romanized from Mandarin 鼎 (dǐng).

noun dings · ding · ting

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

ding⁴

  • /dɪŋ/ UK, US
  • /ˈdɪŋɡ/ Midlands, Northern England

Rhymes with -ɪŋ

Where it comes from

From Cantonese 丁 (ding¹).

noun dings

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

ding⁵

  • /dɪŋ/ UK, US
  • /ˈdɪŋɡ/ Midlands, Northern England

Rhymes with -ɪŋ

noun dings

  1. Australia, Western, ethnic, offensive, slur an Italian person, specifically an Italian Australian

ding⁶

  • /dɪŋ/ UK, US
  • /ˈdɪŋɡ/ Midlands, Northern England

Rhymes with -ɪŋ

Where it comes from

From Cantonese 丁 (ding¹).

noun

  1. uncountable In American Chinese cuisine, cubed or bite-sized meat. shrimp ding

Ding⁷

Where it comes from

From the pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 定州 (Dìngzhōu, “Orderly Prefecture”).

proper noun

  1. historical A prefecture of imperial China within present-day Hebei under the Northern Wei, Sui, and Tang dynasties, with its seat at Dingzhou.
  2. historical A county of Republican China in Hebei Province.

    Similar: Dingxian

Similar: Dingzhou

Ding⁸

Where it comes from

Borrowed from Mandarin 丁 (Dīng) or Eastern Min 陳 /陈 (Dĭng).

proper noun Ting

  1. A surname from Mandarin or Eastern Min.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: dingdong, dong, ring, net, beep, ding-dong, noise, ting, tripod, small, jung, point, reading, thing, tin, gdp

proper noun

Similar: Dingzhou

Translations

Every language

noun very minor damage

Españolraspadura, raspón

verb to hit or strike

Françaisbigner
Русскийстукнуть stuknutʹ

verb to inflict minor damage on

Françaisbigner
Русскийповреждать povreždatʹ

verb (colloquial) To deduct, as points

Русскийштрафовать štrafovatʹ

noun high-pitched sound of a bell

Ελληνικάντιν ntin
Русскийдзынь dzynʹ

noun vessel

日本語鼎 kanae, 鼎 tei
中文鼎 dǐng

name Chinese surname (丁)

中文丁 Dīng
РусскийДинь Dinʹ
Tiếng ViệtĐinh

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MLA

"ding." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/ding. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

ding. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/ding

Chicago

"ding." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/ding.

BibTeX
@misc{ding_2026,
  title = {ding},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/ding},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}