Tong

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /tÉ’Å‹/
• Rhymes: -É’Å‹

From Old English tange, from a Germanic root. Cognate to Old Norse tǫng (modern Icelandic töng), Old High German zanga (modern German Zange). Other cognates include Sanskrit दशति (daśati, "to bite") and Albanian dang ("bite, nip").

Full definition of tong

Noun

1. An instrument or tool used for manipulating things in a fire without touching them with the hands.
• 1998, Alberdina Houtman, Marcel Poorthuis, Joshua Schwartz (editors), Sanctity of time and space in tradition and modernity, page 232:... these attributes are concrete expressions of God's care and providence and therefore not man-made. This explains the quite bizarre presence of a ‘pair’ of tongs in some lists: in order to make a tong one needs a tong, and how could the first tong be made without a tong?

Verb

1. (intransitive) To use tongs.
2. (transitive) To grab, manipulate or transport something using tongs.

From Cantonese, å ‚.

Noun

1. A Chinese secret society or gang.