First Known Use: 1678
Dictionary
hangnail
noun hang·nail \-ˌnāl\
: a small piece of skin hanging loose at the side or bottom of a fingernail
Full Definition of HANGNAIL
: a bit of skin hanging loose at the side or root of a fingernail
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Origin of HANGNAIL
by folk etymology from agnail inflammation about the nail, from Middle English, corn on the foot or toe, from Old English angnægl, from ang- (akin to enge tight, painful) + nægl nail — more at anger
Rhymes with HANGNAIL
abseil, airmail, all hail, assail, avail, bake sale, bangtail, blackmail, blacktail, bobtail, broadscale, broadtail, bucktail, bud scale, canaille, cattail, chain mail, coattail, cocktail, contrail, curtail, derail, detail, doornail, dovetail, downscale, ducktail, e-mail, entail, exhale, fan mail, fantail, female, fife rail, fire sale, fishtail, folktale, foresail, foxtail, fresh gale, full-scale, gapped scale, Glendale, gray scale, greenmail, guardrail, Hallel, handrail, headsail, hightail, hobnail, horntail, horsetail, impale, inhale, junk mail, Longueuil, lugsail, mainsail, mare's tail, Mondale, moon snail, oxtail, pass-fail, percale, pigtail, pintail, pinwale, plate rail, pot ale, prevail, rattail, regale, resale, rescale, retail, right whale, ringtail, Sangreal, Scottsdale, sea kale, shavetail, shirttail, skysail, slop pail, small-scale, snail mail, soft hail, split rail, springtail, spritsail, square sail, staysail, strong gale, surveil, swordtail, taffrail, tag sale, telltale, third rail, thumbnail, timescale, toenail, topsail, travail, trysail, unnail, unveil, upscale, ventail, voice mail, wage scale, wagtail, wassail, whiptail, white sale, whitetail, white whale, whole gale, wholesale, yard sale
HANGNAIL Defined for Kids
hangnail
noun hang·nail \ˈhaŋ-ˌnāl\
Definition of HANGNAIL for Kids
: a bit of skin hanging loose at the side or base of a fingernail
Word History of HANGNAIL
Hangnail is an alteration of an earlier word angnail (or agnail), which did not at first mean what we now call a hangnail. The Old English ancestor of the word was angnægl, “corn on the foot,” with the second part, nægl, referring not to a toenail but rather to the nail we drive in with a hammer, the head of an iron nail being likened to a hard corn. By the 1500s the association of -nail with the body's nails led to a new sense for angnail, “sore around a fingernail or toenail.” In the next century, ang- was altered to hang-, and the main sense came to be “bit of loose skin at the side or root of a fingernail.”
Medical Dictionary
hangnail
noun hang·nail \ˈhaŋ-ˌnāl\
Medical Definition of HANGNAIL
: a bit of skin hanging loose at the side or root of a fingernail
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