thong

Meaning

Noun

• A strip of leather.
• An item of footwear, usually of rubber, secured by two straps which join to pass between the big toe and its neighbour.
• An undergarment or swimwear consisting of very narrow strips designed to cover just the genitals and nothing more.
• The largest section of a bullwhip constructed of many straps of braided leather.

Related

Similar words

• see list in flip-flop
• G-string, butt floss

Origin

• From Middle English thong, thwong, thwang, from Old English þwong, þwang, þweng, þwæng, from Proto-West Germanic *þwangi, from Proto-Germanic *þwangiz, *þwanguz, from Proto-Indo-European *twenk- ("to squeeze, press, pressure").
• Cognate with Scots thwang, thwayng, thang, Middle Low German dwenge ("clamp, jaws, steel-trap"), German Zwinge ("vise, clamp"), dialectal Norwegian tveng ("shoestrap, shoelace"), Icelandic þvengur ("strap, thong, latchet").