hangnail
A loose, narrow strip of nail tissue protruding from the side edge and anchored near…A loose, narrow strip of nail tissue protruding from the side edge and anchored near the base of a fingernail or toenail.
Meaning
2 sensesA loose, narrow strip of nail tissue protruding from the side edge and anchored near the base of a fingernail or toenail.
Niednagel, Neidnagel
заусе́ницаzausénica, заусе́нецzausénec
за́диркаzádyrka, за́дереньzáderenʹ
a loose narrow strip of skin near the base of a fingernail; tearing it produces a painful sore that is easily infected
A pointed upper corner of the toenail (often created by improperly trimming by rounding the corner) that, as the nail grows, presses into the flesh or protrudes so that it may catch (“hang”) on stockings or shoes.
Examples
2 sentencesTom had hangnail problems.
ruУ Тома были заусенцы. — odexed
I've got a hangnail.
ruУ меня заусенец. — al42and · CC BY 2.0 FR
Translations
9 languagesBy meaning 1
By meaning 1
By meaning 1
Origin
A corruption of agnail (literally “painful (anguished) nail”), by folk-etymological reanalA corruption of agnail (literally “painful (anguished) nail”), by folk-etymological reanalysis as hang + nail; from Middle English agnail, from Old English angnæġl, from ang- (“tight/painful”) + næġl (“nail”). The first part is from Proto-Germanic *anguz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂énǵʰus (“narrow, tight”), while the second is from Proto-Germanic *naglaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃negʰ-. The first component, ang- is also the origin of anguish, anger, and angst, while næġl is the origin of nail. Compare more "pure" Scots angernail, and similarly folk-influenced dialectal variants wrangnail and ragnail, all meaning "hangnail" and from Middle English. Cognate with Old High German ungnagel and Old Frisian angneil, o(n)gneil.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: hangnailsSynonyms
2 synonyms- a loose narrow strip of skin near the base of a fingernail; tearing it produces a painful sore that is easily infected:agnail
Word family
1 related wordsSee also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.