thong

Meaning

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

Synonyms

strap

belt

flip-flop

G-string

lash

tanga

leash

band

whip

latchet

ribbon

🎀

g-string

strip

gee-string

cord

thongs

slipper

girdle

string

🪢

whang

G string

wristlet

flip flop

leather strap

zori

small strap

leather strip

tawse

gee string

halter

lashing

lunge

pusher

rope

🪢

sandal

👡

sash

sling

Pronounced as (IPA)

/θɒŋ/

Etymology

From Middle English thong, thwong, thwang, from Old English þwong, þwang, þweng, þwæng (“thong, band, strap, cord, strip of leather; phylactery”), from Proto-West Germanic *þwangi, from Proto-Germanic *þwangiz, *þwanguz (“coercion, constraint, band, clamp, strap”), from Proto-Indo-European *twenk- (“to squeeze, press, pressure”). Cognate with Scots thwang, thwayng, thang (“thong”), Middle Low German dwenge (“clamp, jaws, steel-trap”), German Zwinge (“vise, clamp”), Danish tvinge (“clamp”), dialectal Norwegian tveng (“shoestrap, shoelace”), Icelandic þvengur (“strap, thong, latchet”).