Banging

How to spell banging

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce banging

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does banging mean?

1. verbStriking something repeatedly and forcefully, or the loud knocking noise this makes.

Banging in a sentence

• The constant banging from the building site next door gave her a headache.

• He was banging on the front door because he had forgotten his keys.

Where does banging come from?

Language of origin: Old Norse

The base word 'bang' is probably of Scandinavian origin, related to the Old Norse 'banga', meaning 'to hammer' or 'to strike', and its sound directly imitates the sharp, sudden noise of a blow. It first appears in English in the 1500s, both as a verb for striking something violently and as a noun for the loud report that results. Like 'boom', 'crash' and 'thud', it belongs to a family of echoic words whose spelling tries to capture the sound itself. Adding the regular '-ing' ending turns it into the present participle and gerund 'banging', describing the ongoing action or noise of striking. In more recent British and Australian slang, 'banging' has also drifted into an adjective meaning 'excellent' or 'impressive', a playful extension of the idea of something that makes a powerful impact.

How the word is built

• bang (root: a loud sudden noise, of imitative origin)
• -ing (present participle / gerund suffix)