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Added 8 October 2026

ring

/ɹɪŋ/ noun

Categories: Describing WordsThingsEveryday Words

In Latin: ānulus Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about ring at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

  1. A solid object in the shape of a circle. A circumscribing object, (roughly) circular and hollow, looking like an annual ring, earring, finger ring etc.
    His brother gifted him a ring for the engagement.
  2. A circumscribing object, (roughly) circular and hollow, looking like an annual ring, earring, finger ring etc.
  3. A round piece of (precious) metal worn around the finger or through the ear, nose, etc.
    His brother gifted him a ring for the engagement.

verb

  1. To enclose or surround.
    The inner city was ringed with dingy industrial areas.
  2. To make an incision around; to girdle; to cut away a circular tract of bark from a tree in order to kill it.
    They ringed the trees to make the clearing easier next year.
  3. To attach a ring to, especially for identification.
    We managed to ring 22 birds this morning.

noun

  1. The resonant sound of a bell, or a sound resembling it.
    The church bell's ring could be heard the length of the valley.
  2. A pleasant or correct sound.
    The name has a nice ring to it.
  3. A sound or appearance that is characteristic of something.
    Her statements in court had a ring of falsehood.

verb

  1. Of a bell, etc., to produce a resonant sound.
    The bells were ringing in the town.
  2. To make (a bell, etc.) produce a resonant sound.
    The deliveryman rang the doorbell to drop off a parcel.
  3. To produce (a sound) by ringing.
    They rang a Christmas carol on their handbells.

Origin

From Middle English ryng, from Old English hring (“ring, circle”), from Proto-West Germanic *hring, from Proto-Germanic *hringaz (“ring”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)krengʰ-, extended nasalized form of *(s)ker- (“to turn, bend”). Doublet of rank and rink, as well as indirectly range. Cognates * West Frisian ring * Low German Ring * Dutch ring * German Ring * Swedish ring * Finnish rengas More distantly cognate with Proto-Slavic *krǫgъ (whence Bulgarian кръг (krăg), Polish krąg, Russian круг (krug)).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

Related Words: bandhooppackencirclesurroundenvironknelltintinnabulationpealannulusroundgang

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