Tong Meaning
/tɒŋ/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounAn instrument or tool used for manipulating things in a fire without touching them with the hands.
verbTo use tongs.
Sentence Examples
cold tongue with mustard
He was speaking in his native tongue.
The chef used a metal tong to turn the steak on the grill.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The chef used a metal ____ to pick up the hot pan from the stove.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The blacksmith used a pair of ____ to hold the hot piece of metal while he worked on it in his workshop today.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English tonge (“tongs, fang”), tange, from Old English tange, from Proto-West Germanic *tangu, from Proto-Germanic *tangō, from Proto-Indo-European *denḱ- (“to bite”). Cognate with Old Norse tǫng (modern Icelandic töng), Old High German zanga (modern German Zange). Other cognates include Sanskrit दशति (dáśati, “to bite”) and Albanian dang (“bite, nip”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"[…] these attributes are concrete expressions of God's care and providence and therefore not man-made. This explains the quite bizarre presence of a ‘pair’ of tongs in some lists: in order to make a tong one needs a tong, and how could the first tong be made without a tong?"
— 1998, Alberdina Houtman, Marcel Poorthuis, Joshua Schwartz, editors, Sanctity of time and space in tradition and modernity, page 232:
"An Ordinance to provide for the termination of the Block Crown Lease of Cheung Chau granted to Wong Wai Tsak Tong and for sub-lessees under the Block Crown Lease to hold directly from the Crown."
— 1995, Legislative Council of Hong Kong, “Block Crown Lease (Cheung Chau) Ordinance”, in Hong Kong Government Gazette, page A2772:
"Or plaine and perfite way of teachyng children, to vnderstand, write, and speake, the Latin tong, but specially purposed for the priuate brynging vp of youth in Ientlemen and Noble mens houses, and commodious also for all such, as haue forgot the Latin tonge, and would, by themselues, without a Scholemaster, in short tyme, and with small paines, recouer a sufficient habilitie, to vnderstand, write, and speake Latin."
— 1570, Roger Ascham, The Scholemaster:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The chef used a metal ____ to pick up the hot pan from the stove.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The blacksmith used a pair of ____ to hold the hot piece of metal while he worked on it in his workshop today.