eng
The name of the Latin script letter Ŋ/ŋ, formed by combining the letters n and g, used in the IPA, Sami, Mende, and some Australian aboriginal languages.
Adjective
- Narrow.
- The hole was too eng for him to get through.
Origin
Probably from Dutch eng (“narrow”), also compare Old English enge (“narrow”), from Proto-West Germanic *angī, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *anguz. No mention of the word is found in any surviving Middle English text, save for the Middle English compound word ang-nail. Related to Dutch eng (“narrow”), German eng (“narrow”), Low German enj (“confined, narrow”), Luxembourgish enk (“narrow”).
Noun
- The name of the Latin script letter Ŋ/ŋ, formed by combining the letters n and g, used in the IPA, Sami, Mende, and some Australian aboriginal languages.
- The velar nasal consonant found in such words as song or wink.
Origin
Probably created by analogy with other names for nasal consonants em (m) and en (n).