hangnail
Valid in Scrabble
- Scrabble points
- 12
- Words With Friends
- 15
- Letters
- 8
See all 2 pronunciations Show less
Definition of hangnail
2 senses · 1 part of speech · etymology included
noun
- A loose, narrow strip of nail tissue protruding from the side edge and anchored near the base of a fingernail or toenail.
See all 2 definitions Show less
noun
- A loose, narrow strip of nail tissue protruding from the side edge and anchored near the base of a fingernail or toenail.
- 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.
Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.
Etymology
A 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…
See full etymology Show less
A 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 part is from Proto-Germanic *anguz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂énǵʰus (“narrow, tight”), while the second is from Proto-Germanic *naglaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃negʰ-. The first component, ang- is also the origin of anguish, anger, and angst, while næġl is the origin of nail. Compare more "pure" Scots angernail, and similarly folk-influenced dialectal variants wrangnail and ragnail, all meaning "hangnail" and from Middle English. Cognate with Old High German ungnagel and Old Frisian angneil, o(n)gneil. 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.
Words you can make from hangnail
83 playable · top: ANHINGA (11 pts)
Best play anhinga 11 points7-letter words
1 word6-letter words
6 words5-letter words
14 words4-letter words
24 words3-letter words
24 words2-letter words
13 wordsHooks
1 extension · 1 back
A single letter you can add to hangnail to make another valid word.
Back
Find your best play with hangnail
See every word you can make from a set of letters that includes hangnail, or browse word lists you can mine for high-scoring plays.