Etymology

ging

G2I1N1G2

Today it means: A company; troop; a gang. Full definition →

First used 20th c.Middle English gyng ← Old English genge ← Old Norse gengi
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ging · noun1

  1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*gangiją“pace, walk”
  2. Old Norse · derived fromgengi
  3. Old English · inherited fromgenge“a troop, privy, company, retinue”
  4. Middle English · inherited fromgyng
  5. English todayging

From Middle English gyng, gynge, genge, from Old English genge (“a troop, privy, company, retinue”), from Old Norse gengi, from Proto-Germanic *gangiją (“pace, walk”). Cognate with Middle Low German gink (“a going, turn, way”), Old Norse gengi (“accompaniment, entourage, help”), Icelandic gengi (“rate”). Related to Old English gengan (“to go”), from Proto-Germanic *gangijaną (“to go”). More at gang.

ging · noun2

Perhaps onomatopoeic.

ging · noun3

From ginger.

Ging · proper noun4

Clipped form of Ginger, itself sometimes a nickname for Virginia.

Ging · proper noun5

  1. Irish · derived fromMac Fhionn
  2. English todayGing

From a shortened Anglicized form of Irish Mac Fhionn, whence McGinn.

First known use, by meaning

  • from 20th c. A ‘shanghai’, or handheld catapult.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.