ping pong
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Onomatopoeic. The name “ping-pong” was in wide use before British manufacturer J. Jaques & Son Ltd trademarked it in 1901. Jaques sold the rights to the “ping-pong” name in the United States to Parker Brothers. Registered in the United States in 1930, Ping-Pong (with dash) is still a registered wordmark of Parker Brothers, Inc.[1] Contrary to a common misconception, the word does not originate from Chinese 乒乓 (pīngpāng), though there are possibilities that the coiners encountered Chinese themselves.
Pronunciation
[edit]- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈpɪŋˌpɒŋ/, /ˈpiŋˌpɒŋ/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈpɪŋˌpɔŋ/; (cot–caught merger) /ˈpɪŋˌpɑŋ/
Audio (US): (file) - Rhymes: -ɒŋ
Noun
[edit]ping pong (countable and uncountable, plural ping pongs)
- table tennis.
- Synonyms: (archaic) flim-flam, (archaic) whiff-whaff, (precursor) gossima
- 1900, Daily Chronicle[1], published 1905, May 8, page 6/6:
- Our correspondent seems to hope that the unclean, playing Ping-Pong with the clean, will become unpleasantly conscious of his uncleanness and reform.
- (figuratively) An instance of figuratively bouncing something or someone back and forth.
- 1909, Thaddeus L. Bolton, “On the Efficacy of Consciousness”, in Frederick James Eugene Woodbridge, Wendell T. Bush, editors, The Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Methods[2], volume 6, New York: The Science Press, page 424:
- To be conscious is to be subject to just such a ping-pong of recurring nervous activities that effect muscle tone on one side and brain discharge on the other.
- (UK politics) The exchange of proposed amendments between the two Houses of Parliament, particularly at the end of a session when compromises have to be made to complete the legislative process within the limited time available.
- (dated) A size of photograph a little larger than a postage stamp.
- 1909, James Boniface Schriever, Commercial, press, scientific photography, page 401:
- As only bust or half-length figures are all the ping pong photographer attempts, only one or two small plain backgrounds is all that is necessary. Generally two are used, a light one and a dark one.
- (music) A small, shallow steelpan drum.
- 2012, Angela Smith, Steel Drums and Steelbands: A History, page 158:
- Most ping pongs were 35- to 45-gallon drums. The larger drum had room for more notes; the tones were also louder and clearer and could be sustained longer.
Derived terms
[edit]Descendants
[edit]- → Chinese: 乒乓
球 (pīngpāngqiú) - → Greek:
π ι ν γ κ π ο ν γ κ (pingk pongk) - → Italian: ping pong
- → Japanese: ピンポン (pin pon)
- → Korean: 핑퐁 (pingpong)
- → Portuguese: pingue-pongue
- → Russian: пинг-понг (ping-pong)
- → Spanish: ping pong
Translations
[edit]Verb
[edit]ping pong (third-person singular simple present ping pongs, present participle ping ponging, simple past and past participle ping ponged)
- (transitive, intransitive) To figuratively bounce or be bounced back and forth.
- (transitive, medicine) To refer (a patient) unnecessarily to a number of clinics or practitioners as a form of fraud.
- (intransitive) To play the game of ping pong.
References
[edit]Further reading
[edit]Italian
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Unadapted borrowing from English ping pong.
Noun
[edit]ping pong m (uncountable)
- ping pong
- Synonyms: ping-pong, tennis da tavolo, tennis tavolo
Further reading
[edit]- ping pong in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
Spanish
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Borrowed from English ping pong, originally a trademark. See more at ping pong.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]ping pong m (uncountable)
- (sports) ping pong
- Synonym: tenis de mesa
- (by extension) a back and forth or volatile fluctuation of anything
- un ping pong emocional ― an emotional fluctuation
Derived terms
[edit]Tagalog
[edit]Noun
[edit]ping pong (Baybayin spelling ᜉᜒᜅ᜔ ᜉᜓᜅ᜔)
- Alternative spelling of pingpong
- English onomatopoeias
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