kang

K5A1N1G2
US/ˈkɑŋ/US/ˈkæŋ/US, UK[ˈkæŋ]British, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales/ˈkaŋ/

noun

A traditional long platform of brick, clay or concrete, used for heating in colder parts of China and suitable for sleeping on at night.

Less commonScrabble 9

Meanings

kang1

nounkang (plural kangs)

plural kangs · alternative k'ang

  1. A traditional long platform of brick, clay or concrete, used for heating in colder parts of China and suitable for sleeping on at night.
    1 more example

    Why is it built this way? Oh, it's a kang. It's heated from underneath, like an oven. Kang? What is a kang for? A community bed. You'll find them in every inn in north China. We've got lots of rooms, but when winter comes, this is the bed everybody'll be in. You mean togther? Thirty, forty, fifty at a time. All fully-clothed and ignoring each other. It gets cold here you'll find out.

    1958, 29:45 from the start, in The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, →OCLC
  2. A large Chinese water jar.

kang2

nounkang (plural kangs)

plural kangs

  1. abbreviationclippinginformalClipping of kangaroo.

kang3

nounkang (plural kangs or kangz)

plural kangs · plural kangz

  1. InternetnonstandardNonstandard form of king
verbkang (third-person singular simple present kangs, present participle kanging, simple past and past participle kanged)

present singular third person kangs · participle present kanging · participle past kanged · past kanged

  1. IndiatransitiveTo appropriate the history of another ethnicity or country, in particular an empire or a civilization.
  2. intransitivetransitiveTo mock or satirize a popular but discredited Afrocentric theory claiming that sub-Saharan Africans were descended from or related to ancient Egyptians.

kang4

verbkang (third-person singular simple present kangs, present participle kanging, simple past and past participle kanged)

present singular third person kangs · participle present kanging · participle past kanged · past kanged

  1. slangAndroid programmingTo appropriate someone else's work.

Kang5

proper nounKang (plural Kangs)

plural Kangs

  1. A surname.
    1. A surname from Korean.
    2. A surname from Chinese.
    3. alternativeAlternative form of Kangabam surname of Meitei origin
    4. alternativeAlternative form of Kangjam surname of Meitei origin
    5. alternativeAlternative form of Kangujam surname of Meitei origin

Origin

kang · noun

  1. Chinese炕
  2. Englishkang

Borrowed from Chinese 炕.

Full word history & related roots →

kang · noun, verb

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ǵenh₁-
  2. Proto-Germanic*kunją
  3. Proto-Germanic*kuningaz
  4. Proto-West Germanic*kuning
  5. Old Englishcyning
  6. Middle Englishking
  7. Englishking
  8. Englishkang

From the Internet meme we wuz kangz, with the word kang itself ultimately from king, referring to the pharaohs, from which Afrocentrist nationalists claim to be descended.

Full word history & related roots →

kang · verb

Online alias of an XDA-Developers.com user who appropriated the work of other users.

Full word history & related roots →

Kang · proper noun

  1. Hokkien江
  2. Mandarin康
  3. Korean강(姜)
  4. EnglishKang

Borrowed from Korean 강(姜) (Gang), Mandarin 康 (Kāng) or Hokkien 江 (Kang).

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with kang

All rhymes →

Sounds the same

kong (cot-caught merger) (some accents)king (thank-think merger)king (thank-think merger)

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

kang. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kang

MLA

“kang.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kang. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “kang,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kang.

Source: kang on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.