gong

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɡɒŋ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɡɔŋ/
  • (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ɡɑŋ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒŋ

From Malay gong, possibly onomatopoeic.

gong (plural gongs)

1. (music) A percussion instrument consisting of a metal disk that emits a loud resonant sound when struck with a soft hammer.
   • 1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., page 110:

     All the time six or eight large Chinese gongs were being beaten by the vigorous arms of as many young men, producing such a deafening discord that I was glad to escape to the round house, where I slept very comfortably with half a dozen smoke-dried human skulls suspended over my head.

2. (British, slang) A medal or award, particularly Knight Bachelor.
   • 2021, Otto English, Fake History, page 114:

     This grooming of the national mindset explains the retention of 92 "hereditary peers" in the House of Lords: individuals who are gifted a right to sit in the nation's upper chamber and facilitate laws for no other reason than that their ancestor was the illegitimate child of some prince, or willing to spaff a few quid on the title when David Lloyd Gorge was selling of gongs for bribes.

3. A metal target that emits a sound when it has been hit.

gong (third-person singular simple present gongs, present participle gonging, simple past and past participle gonged)

1. (intransitive) To make the sound of a gong; to ring a gong.
   • 1903, H. G. Wells, The Truth About Pyecraft:

     Poor old Pyecraft! He has just gonged, no doubt to order another buttered tea-cake!

2. (transitive) To send a signal to, using a gong or similar device.
   1. To halt (originally, a contestant in a talent show; later, a performer, a speaker).
      • 1996, Stephanie Holt, Maryanne Lynch, Motherlode:

        As she was gonged, host Daryl Somers swept rapidly across and salvaged an embarrassing situation by putting his arm around her and asking her whether she had children.

   2. To warn.

      The driver gonged the pedestrian crossing the tracks, but the pedestrian didn't stop.

3. (British, slang, transitive) To give an award or medal to.
   • 1997, Peter Stone, The Lady and the President, page 147:

     In 1972 he was awarded the British Red Cross Silver Medal for his services to the Red Cross. In 1978 he was 'gonged' once again, this time with the Queen's Jubilee Medal, marking the 25th year of her reign.

• The Gong Show on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

From Middle English gong, from Old English gong, where it was originally a variant of the noun gang (“a going, walk, journey, way, etc.”),^[1] derived from the verb gangan (“to go, walk, travel”),^[2] whose relation to go in Proto-Germanic remains unclear.^[3] Doublet of gang.

gong (plural gongs)

1. (obsolete) An outhouse: an outbuilding used as a lavatory.
   • a. 1513, Robert Fabyan, New Cronycles of Englande and of Fraunce, volume II, page xxxii:

     The Iewe of Tewkysbury which fell into a Gonge vpon the Satyrday.

   • a. 1577, George Gascoigne, Grief of Joye, Vol. II, § lxii:

     A stately Toye, a preciows peece of pellfe,
     A gorgeous gong, a worthles painted wall...

2. (obsolete) The contents of an outhouse pit: shit.

• gang, gonge, goonge, goung, gounge, gung, gunge

• (outhouse): gonghouse; see also Thesaurus:outhouse
• (feces): See Thesaurus:feces

From Mandarin 功 (gōng, “merit; achievement”).

gong (uncountable)

1. (uncountable) A kind of cultivation energy, more powerful than qi.
2. (uncountable) An advanced practice that cultivates such energy.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *guŋ (“body; back”).

gong

1. back
2. body
3. health

Borrowed from Malay gong.

• IPA^(key): /ɣɔŋ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: gong
• Rhymes: -ɔŋ

gong m (plural gongs, diminutive gongetje n)

1. gong, disc-shaped metal percussion instrument

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

gong m (plural gongs)

1. gong

• sauvé par le gong

• “gong”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

gong (plural gong-gong)

1. (music) a large gong

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *guŋ (“body; back”).

gong

1. physical body

• IPA^(key): /ɡoŋ/
• Rhymes: -oŋ

From Classical Malay [script needed] (gong), from Javanese gong.

gong (Jawi spelling ݢوڠ, plural gong-gong or gong²)

1. (music) a gong
2. (onomatopoeia) the sound a gong makes.

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

gong (Jawi spelling ݢوڠ, plural gong-gong or gong²)

1. (botany) Helicia petiolaris

   Synonym: putat tepi

2. (botany) Xerospermum laevigatum

   Synonym: rambutan pacat

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

gong (Jawi spelling ݢوڠ, comparative lebih gong, superlative paling gong)

1. (obsolete) a bit crazy

   Synonym: gila

   Antonym: waras

2. (obsolete) stupid

   Synonyms: bodoh, bebal, tolol

   Antonyms: pandai, bijak

• "gong" in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu (PRPM) [Malay Literary Reference Centre (PRPM)] (in Malay), Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017

gong

1. nonstandard spelling of gōng
2. nonstandard spelling of gǒng
3. nonstandard spelling of gòng

• Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

Cognate with Warji gung, Polci goŋ.

• IPA^(key): /ɡòŋ/

gong

1. chief, king, ruler

• Blench, Robert; Bulkaam, Michael (2021) An Introduction to Mantsi, a South Bauchi language of Central Nigeria. University of Cambridge.

• gang, gonge, goonge

Inherited from Old English gang, from Proto-West Germanic *gang, from Proto-Germanic *gangaz. Compare gangen.

• IPA^(key): /ɡɔnɡ/, /ɡɔ̝ːnɡ/
• IPA^(key): /ɡanɡ/, /ɡaːnɡ/ (especially Northern)

gong (plural gonges)

1. An outhouse; a building used as a lavatory.
2. (Northern) A group or set of items.
3. (chiefly Northern, uncommon) A walk; a journey, especially by foot.
4. (Northern, rare) A gait; the way one walks.
5. (poetic, rare) A band or company of armed men.

• English: gang (see there for further descendants); gong, goung (obsolete)
• Scots: gang, gaung, ging

  Northeastern: dyang, gyang

• “gā̆ng, gō̆ng, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

From Malay gong.

gong m (definite singular gongen, indefinite plural gonger, definite plural gongene)

1. (music) a gong (percussion instrument)

• gongong

• “gong” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

• IPA^(key): /ɡɔŋː/

From the verb gå.

gong m (definite singular gongen, indefinite plural gonger or gongar, definite plural gongene or gongane)

1. time

   Kor mange gonger hende det?

   How many times did it happen?

• gang (Bokmål)

From Malay gong.

gong m (definite singular gongen, indefinite plural gongar, definite plural gongane)

1. (music) a gong (percussion instrument)

• gongong

• “gong” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

gong m

1. alternative form of gang

Borrowed from Malay gong.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɔŋk/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔŋk
• Syllabification: gong

gong m inan

1. gong (percussion instrument consisting of a metal disk that emits a sonorous sound when struck with a soft hammer)
2. sound made by the gong

gong m animal

1. (colloquial) fist blow

   Hypernym: cios

• gong in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• gong in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• gong in PWN's encyclopedia

Borrowed from French gong.

gong n (plural gonguri)

1. gong

• gongo

From Malay gong.

gong m (plural gongs)

1. gong

• batintín

• “gong”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

gong

1. thin

• Chungkham Yashawanta Singh; Lukram Himmat (2013), A Descriptive Grammar of Zou, Canchipur: Manipur University