ping pong
/ˈpɪŋˌpɒŋ//ˈpɪŋˌpɔŋ/
ping pong noun: table tennis.
Noun
ping pong (countable and uncountable, plural ping pongs)
- Table tennis.
- Our correspondent seems to hope that the unclean, playing Ping-Pong with the clean, will become unpleasantly conscious of his uncleanness and reform.1900, Daily Chronicle, published 1905, May 8, page 6/6
- Synonyms:
- flim-flam, whiff-whaff, gossima
- An instance of figuratively bouncing something or someone back and forth.
- To be conscious is to be subject to just such a ping-pong of recurring nervous activities that effect muscle tone on one side and brain discharge on the other.1909, Thaddeus L. Bolton, “On the Efficacy of Consciousness”, in Frederick James Eugene Woodbridge, Wendell T. Bush, editors, The Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Methods, volume 6...
- The exchange of proposed amendments between the House of Commons and House of Lords, particularly at the end of a session when compromises have to be made to complete the legislative process within the limited time available.
- A size of photograph a little larger than a postage stamp.
- As only bust or half-length figures are all the ping pong photographer attempts, only one or two small plain backgrounds is all that is necessary. Generally two are used, a light one and a dark one.1909, James Boniface Schriever, Commercial, press, scientific photography, page 401
- A small, shallow steelpan drum.
- Most ping pongs were 35- to 45-gallon drums. The larger drum had room for more notes; the tones were also louder and clearer and could be sustained longer.2012, Angela Smith, Steel Drums and Steelbands: A History, page 158
Verb
ping pong (third-person singular simple present ping pongs, present participle ping ponging, simple past and past participle ping ponged)
ping pong meaning in Tamil
ping pong in Tamil
- மேசை வரிப்பந்தாட்டம், எதிர்திசைச் செலுத்து இணைப்பு
Synonyms of ping pong
Forms of ping pong
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | ping pongs |
| alternative form | ping-pong |
| alternative form | pingpong |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | ping pongs |
| present participle | ping ponging |
| past participle | ping ponged |
| past | ping ponged |
Origin of ping pong
Onomatopoeic. The name “ping-pong” was in wide use before British manufacturer J. Jaques & Son Ltd trademarked it in 1901. Jaques sold the rights to the “ping-pong” name in the United States to Parker Brothers. Registered in the United States in 1930, Ping-Pong (with dash) is still a registered wordmark of Parker Brothers, Inc. Contrary to a common misconception, the word does not originate from Chinese 乒乓 (pīngpāng), though there are possibilities that the coiners encountered Chinese themselves.
Words formed from ping pong
Words that rhyme with ping pong
Questions about ping pong
- What does ping pong mean?
- Ping pong means table tennis.
- What is ping pong in Tamil?
- Ping pong in Tamil is மேசை வரிப்பந்தாட்டம், எதிர்திசைச் செலுத்து இணைப்பு. See Ping pong meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is ping pong?
- Ping pong can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce ping pong?
- Ping pong is pronounced /ˈpɪŋˌpɒŋ/ (UK).
- What is the plural of ping pong?
- The plural of ping pong is ping pongs.
Words near ping pong in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ping pong (page history and authors); ping pong (Tamil Wiktionary) (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: en-us-ping-pong.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-ping pong.wav.
Cite this entry: “ping pong.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ping_pong. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.