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wing

noun · verb

Simple meaning

A fin at the side of a ray or similar fish.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

wing
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈwɪŋ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. A fin at the side of a ray or similar fish.

  2. zootomy

    An appendage of an animal's (bird, bat, insect) body that enables it to fly.

  3. One of the large pectoral fins of a flying fish.

  4. One of the broad, thin, anterior lobes of the foot of a pteropod, used as an organ in swimming.

  5. A side shoot of a tree or plant; a branch growing up by the side of another.

  6. A movable organ for flying (one of a pair)

verb

  1. intransitive

    To fly.

  2. transitive

    To traverse by flying.

  3. transitive

    To throw.

  4. transitive

    To injure slightly (as with a gunshot), especially in the wing or arm.

  5. transitiveof a building

    To add a wing (extra part) to.

  6. transitive

    To act or speak extemporaneously; to improvise; to wing it.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A2 · Elementary (estimated)
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
General English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: One of the large pectoral fins of a flying fish.

Used this way, wing is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use wing

  • “He preferred the drumsticks to the wings.”noun
  • “They are the progressive wing of the Republican Party.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Addition

left wingfore wing

Other combinations

right wingwest wingred wingwing commanderhind wingwing tip

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • wingedadjectiveInflected form

    Having wings or as if having wings of a specified kind.

  • wingernounInflected form

    Player in wing position.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • wing screwnounCompound term

    A threaded nut with winglike projections for thumb and forefinger leverage in turning.

  • wing shootingnounCompound term

    Shooting game birds that are flying (on the wing).

  • wing tipnounCompound term

    A shoe having a wing-tip toecap.

  • wing chairnounCompound term

    Easy chair having wings on each side of a high back.

  • winged beannounCompound term

    A tuberous twining annual vine bearing clusters of purplish flowers and pods with four jagged wings.

  • winged elmnounCompound term

    North American elm having twigs and young branches with prominent corky projections.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • wingmannounRelated term

    The pilot who positions his aircraft outside and behind (on the wing of) the leader of a flying formation.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.