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wing

Pronunciation: /wɪŋ/

The English word “wing” has 20 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. An appendage of an animal's (bird, bat, insect) body that enables it to fly.
  2. A fin at the side of a ray or similar fish.
  3. Human arm.
  4. Part of an aircraft that produces the lift for rising into the air.
  5. One of the large pectoral fins of a flying fish.
  6. One of the broad, thin, anterior lobes of the foot of a pteropod, used as an organ in swimming.
  7. Any membranaceous expansion, such as that along the sides of certain stems, or one of the bracts on a dragon fruit, or of a fruit of the kind called samara.
  8. Either of the two side petals of a papilionaceous flower.
  9. A side shoot of a tree or plant; a branch growing up by the side of another.
  10. Passage by flying; flight.
  11. Limb or instrument of flight; means of flight or of rapid motion.
  12. A part of something that is lesser in size than the main body, and located at the side, such as an extension from the main building.
  13. Either of two similar parts of something.
  14. One of the longer sides of crownworks or hornworks in fortification.
  15. Anything that agitates the air as a wing does, or is put in winglike motion by the action of the air, such as a fan or vane for winnowing grain, the vane or sail of a windmill, the sail of a ship, etc.
  16. A protruding piece of material on a menstrual pad or diaper to hold it in place and prevent leakage.
  17. An ornament worn on the shoulder; a small epaulet or shoulder knot.
  18. A cosmetic effect where eyeliner curves outward and ends at a point.
  19. A faction of a political movement. Usually implies a position apart from the mainstream center position.
  20. A unit of command consisting of two or more squadrons and itself being a sub-unit of a group or station.

Etymology

From Middle English winge, wenge, from Old Norse vængr ("wing of a flying animal, wing of a building"; compare vængi (“ship's cabin”)), from Proto-Germanic *wēingijaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂weh₁- (“to blow”), thus related to wind. Cognate with Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Swedish vinge (“wing”), Elfdalian waingg (“wing”), Faroese vongur (“wing”), Icelandic vængur (“wing”), Norwegian…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.