Hangnail Definition

hăngnāl
hangnails
noun
hangnails
A bit of torn skin hanging at the side or base of a fingernail.
Webster's New World
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.
Wiktionary
Synonyms:

Other Word Forms of Hangnail

Noun

Singular:
hangnail
Plural:
hangnails

Origin of Hangnail

  • 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 component, ang-, is cognate to anguish, anger, and angst, while næġl is the origin of nail.

    From Wiktionary

  • Original sense of “loose strip of tissue”; the sense of “pointed corner of nail” is modern, and is connected with the reanalysis, due to stockings catching or “hanging” on the nail.

    From Wiktionary

  • Alteration of agnail (influenced by hang)

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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Words Starting With

HHAHAN

Words Ending With

LILAIL

Unscrambles

hangnail

Words Starting With H and Ending With L

Starts With H & Ends With LStarts With HA & Ends With LStarts With H & Ends With IL

Word Length

8 Letter Words8 Letter Words Starting With H8 Letter Words Ending With L