zing

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zing

/zɪŋ/ US, UK

Rhymes with -ɪŋ

Where it comes from

Of onomatopoeic origin.

noun zings

countable, uncountable A short high-pitched humming sound, such as that made by a bullet or vibrating string. He listened to the zing and echo on the line, the chatter of distant operators, the patches of Morse from aircraft and ships at sea, quickly suppressed.
countable, slang, uncountable A witty insult or derogatory remark.
uncountable Zest or vitality. To accompany a meal, the fresh Italian lager Poretti is perfect; Erdinger Weisbier, a wheat beer from Germany, is full of zing;
slang, uncountable Pleasant or exciting flavour of food.

verb zings · zinging · zinged

intransitive To move very quickly, especially while making a high-pitched hum. We are all a second or two older than an astronaut who has been zinging around the Earth at 18000 miles per hour, because of his or her greater speed and the lack of gravity.
slang, transitive To address a witty insult or comeback to. Goomba: Ouch that was cold! Paragoomba: “What, you’re too good for us? Come off it, sister! Spike Goomba: “Nobody zings us like that! Nobody! Let’s get ’em!”
To make a zinging noise or sound. Outside, the crickets and the tree-frogs started to zing and tinkle and the great hawkmoths came to the wire-netting across the windows and clutched it, gazing with trembling ecstasy at the two oil lamps that hung from the cross-beams inside.

interjection

onomatopoeic A high pitched humming sound. Something inside of me started a symphony / Zing! Went the strings of my heart
US, slang Used to acknowledge a witty comeback, a zinger. Zing! The joke had rebounded back on the one who started it. "Ouch!" Mama Jane winced ruefully. We all dissolved in laughter at the good-natured repartee.

Translations

Every language

noun a short high-pitched humming sound

Español	zumbido, silbido

noun zest or vitality

Español	brío, energía
Français	sève, vitalité

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MLA

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

APA

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

Chicago

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

BibTeX

@misc{zing_2026,
  title = {zing},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/zing},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}