ming

See also: Ming, míng, mǐng, mìng, and Míng

English

Pronunciation

(UK, US) IPA^(key): /mɪŋ/
Audio (AU) (file)
Rhymes: -ɪŋ

Etymology 1

From Middle English mingen, mengen, from Old English mengan (“to mix, combine, unite, associate with, consort, cohabit with, disturb, converse”), from Proto-West Germanic *mangijan (“to mix, knead”), from Proto-Indo-European *menk- (“to rumple, knead”). Cognate with Dutch mengen (“to mix, blend, mingle”), German mengen (“to mix”), Danish mænge (“to rub”), Old English ġemang (“mixture, union, troop, crowd, multitude, congregation, assembly, business, cohabitation”). More at among.

Alternative forms

minge, meng

Verb

ming (third-person singular simple present mings, present participle minging, simple past and past participle minged or meint or ment or meynt)

(now rare) To mix, blend, mingle.
Synonyms: bemingle, combine, mang, meddle; see also Thesaurus:mix
- 1562, William Turner, Baths:
  I founde here and there litle peces of marquesites and stones, menged with copper, but I could by no sense or wit perceyue, that the bathes had any notable qualitie thereof.
(obsolete) To bring (people, animals etc.) together; to be joined, in marriage or sexual intercourse.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938:
  the old man [...] him brought into a secret part, / Where that false couple were full closely ment / In wanton lust and lewd embracement [...].
(UK, dialectal) To produce through mixing; especially, to knead.

Noun

ming (plural mings)

(Britain) A mixture.
(Britain, Lincolnshire, obsolete, land) The state of being under mixed ownership; land under mixed ownership, particularly without physical demarcations designating ownership.
- 17 September 1811, [Description of] Counterpart of Demise from John Thorold to John Wilson of Grantham, Lincolnshire Archives, Ref. Thor 1/2/ZA25/4 Published by The National Archives, Accessed 19 June 2022.
  Property: 1. 6 acres of land in ming with a meadow of Glebe land of the rectory of Grayingham.

Etymology 2

Backformation from minging.

Verb

ming (third-person singular simple present mings, present participle minging, simple past and past participle minged)

(Britain, slang) To be unattractive (person or object).
(Britain, slang) To be foul-smelling.

Related terms

minger
minging

Etymology 3

From Middle English mingen, mengen, mungen, muneȝen, from Old English myngian, mynegian, ġemynegian (“to bring to mind, have in mind”), from myne (“mind”), from ġemunan (“to remember”), from Proto-Germanic *munaną (“to think”), from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to think”). Merged in Middle English with Old English ġemyndgian (“to remember, be mindful, remind, intend, commemorate, mention, exhort, impel, warn, demand payment”). More at mind.

Alternative forms

minge

Verb

ming (third-person singular simple present mings, present participle minging, simple past and past participle minged)

(transitive, obsolete) To speak of, to mention.

Etymology 4

From Chinese 命 (mìng, “destiny, fate; luck”).

Noun

ming (uncountable)

(Confucianism) Destiny, fate.

Mandarin

Romanization

ming

Nonstandard spelling of míng.
Nonstandard spelling of mǐng.
Nonstandard spelling of mìng.

Usage notes

English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

Scots

Etymology

From Middle English mengen (“to mix”), mynge et al., from Old English mengan (“to mix”). In sense "to stink" probably derived from the specialized sheep-smearing sense.

Noun

ming (plural mings)

(obsolete) The ingredients mixed with or substituted for tar in sheep-smearing.
(obsolete) Human feces, excrement.
A bad smell.

Verb

ming (third-person singular simple present mings, present participle mingin, simple past mingt, past participle mingt)

(obsolete) To mix, mingle, ming; to confuse.
(obsolete) To mix tar for sheep-smearing.
(usually in present participle) To be malodorous, to stink.
(generally) Disgusting; bad.

Uzbek

**Uzbek cardinal numbers**
< 999	1000	1001 >
Cardinal : ming Ordinal : minginchi

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /miŋ/

Numeral

ming

thousand