gunge
/ɡʌnd͡ʒ/
gunge is the alternative form of gong.
gunge is the alternative spelling of ganj.
Noun
gunge (usually uncountable, plural gunges)
- A viscous or sticky substance, particularly an unpleasant one of vague or unknown composition; goo; gunk.
- Have I got trails of gunge on these frills?1978, A. S. Byatt, The Virgin in The Garden, Vintage International, published 1992, page 390
- Tholin.
- They call this solid material tholin (after the Greek word for muddy), but it seems likely that chemists will continue to call this rather familiar material “gunge.”11 January 1979, Dr Bernard Dixon (editor), "Grains between the stars account for spectra", in New Scientist
Verb
gunge (third-person singular simple present gunges, present participle gunging, simple past and past participle gunged)
- To clog with gunge.
- To cover with gunge.
- I've been gunged on children's TV, hung out with some actors off that soap Dad used to watch, done a photoshoot for a major highstreet fashion outlet and now here we are on the red carpet, outside the cinema in Leicester Square […]2012, Simon Packham, The Bex Factor
Meaning of gong
Noun (1)
gong (plural gongs)
- A percussion instrument consisting of a metal disk that emits a loud resonant sound when struck with a soft hammer.
- All the time six or eight large Chinese gongs were being beaten by the vigorous arms of as many young men, producing such a deafening discord that I was glad to escape to the round house, where I slept very comfortably with half a dozen smoke-dried human skulls suspended over my head.1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., page 110
- A medal or award, particularly Knight Bachelor.
- This grooming of the national mindset explains the retention of 92 "hereditary peers" in the House of Lords: individuals who are gifted a right to sit in the nation's upper chamber and facilitate laws for no other reason than that their ancestor was the illegitimate child of some prince, or willing...2021, Otto English, Fake History, page 114
- A metal target that emits a sound when it has been hit.
- Weems picked up the hammer and hit the gong so hard that it spun right around on its hanger and fell off.1986, Terry Pratchett, The Light Fantastic, published 2022, page 184
Noun (2)
gong (plural gongs)
Noun (3)
gong (uncountable)
- A kind of cultivation energy, more powerful than qi.
Meaning of ganj
Noun (1)
ganj (uncountable)
- ganja.
- "Maybe you want some ganj?" He puts two fingers to his lips and pretends to inhale deeply.1997, William Lashner, Veritas
Noun (2)
- A market.
Synonyms of gunge
Forms of gunge
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | gunges |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | gunges |
| present participle | gunging |
| past participle | gunged |
| past | gunged |
Origin of gunge
See gong.
First attested around 1935–40. Probably an alteration of gunk.
Borrowed from Hindi गंज (gañj).
Words formed from gunge
Words that rhyme with gunge
Questions about gunge
- What does gunge mean?
- Gunge means a viscous or sticky substance, particularly an unpleasant one of vague or unknown composition; goo; gunk.
- What is gunge the alternative form of?
- Gunge is the alternative form of gong.
- What part of speech is gunge?
- Gunge can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce gunge?
- Gunge is pronounced /ɡʌnd͡ʒ/.
- What is the plural of gunge?
- The plural of gunge is gunges.
Words near gunge in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: gunge (page history and authors); gong (page history and authors); ganj (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-gunge.wav.
Cite this entry: “gunge.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gunge. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.