ling

1 of 4

noun (1)

1
: any of various fishes (such as a hake or burbot) of the cod family
2

ling

2 of 4

noun (2)

: a heath plant
especially : a common Old World heather (Calluna vulgaris)

-ling

3 of 4

noun suffix

1
: one connected with or having the quality of
hireling
2
: young, small, or inferior one
duckling

-ling

4 of 4

adverb suffix

variants or -lings
: in (such) a direction or manner
sideling
flatling

Examples of ling in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
The sand eels, pilchards, ling and dogfish are missing on this occasion, but everything depends upon the season. Anabel Dean, CNN, 23 Jan. 2023 And don’t miss The Courtney Room for dinner, where the slow baked ling cod with summer squash is a must taste. Celeste Moure, Condé Nast Traveler, 31 Aug. 2021 Nicknamed in various parts of North America as ling, lawyer, cusk or mud shark — the once-lowly burbot is being elevated in Minnesota from unprotected rough fish to game fish. Tony Kennedy, Star Tribune, 14 Jan. 2021 Pursuing parasites in the lab: Step one: discard the filet from this ling cod. Kenneth R. Weiss, Discover Magazine, 20 Dec. 2018

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ling.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

Middle English; akin to Dutch leng ling, Old English lang long

Noun (2)

Middle English, from Old Norse lyng

Noun suffix

Middle English, from Old English; akin to Old English -ing

Adverb suffix

Middle English -ling (from Old English), -linges (from -ling + -es -s); akin to Old High German -lingūn -ling, Old English lang long

First Known Use

Noun (1)

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun (2)

13th century, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of ling was in the 13th century

Dictionary Entries Near ling

Cite this Entry

“Ling.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ling. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

-ling

noun suffix
liŋ
1
: one connected with or having the quality of
hireling
2
: young, small, or minor one
duckling
Etymology

Noun suffix

Old English -ling (noun suffix) "one having the quality of …"

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