sting

C2+ Topic:Emotions & Feelings

US /stɪŋ/ UK /stɪŋ/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

verb
to wound with a sharp pointed organ; a sharp tingling pain

The nettle gave her a nasty sting on the ankle.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to wound with a sharp... prick bite smart tingle wound burn nettle

Opposites

soothe comfort

Word family

Derived forms stingerstinging

Related forms stung

Etymology

From Old English 'stingan', to pierce or prick, from Proto-Germanic '*stinganą', of imitative or pointed-action origin.

stingan Old English *stinganą Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Emotions & Feelings

External links

# sting

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** /stɪŋ/
**IPA (UK):** /stɪŋ/

## Meanings
1. to wound with a sharp pointed organ; a sharp tingling pain

## Examples
- The nettle gave her a nasty sting on the ankle.

## Synonyms
- prick
- bite
- smart
- tingle
- wound
- burn
- nettle

## Antonyms
- soothe
- comfort

## Derived Forms
- stinger
- stinging

## Related Forms
- stung

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: stingan
- Root: *stinganą

## Etymology
From Old English 'stingan', to pierce or prick, from Proto-Germanic '*stinganą', of imitative or pointed-action origin.

## AI Etymology
Sting comes from Old English 'stingan', to pierce or prick, from Proto-Germanic '*stinganą', of imitative or pointed-action origin. The historical chain includes Old English stingan and Proto-Germanic *stinganą. The quoted older senses, "stingan" and "*stinganą", supply the semantic anchors for sting. The formation is best read as borrowed: the word sting carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a verb, "to wound with a sharp pointed organ; a sharp tingling pain". English derivatives include stinger and stinging; related English forms include stung. The result is a verb and noun whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.

## Topics
- Emotions & Feelings

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