thong
part of speech
noun (a thong, thongs)
meaning for a pupil
1) (Australia, New Zealand) Thongs are flip-flops: simple open sandals with a strap between the toes. tree →
2) A thong is a piece of underwear or swimwear with a very thin strip at the back. tree →
3) A thong is a thin strip of leather used to tie or fasten things. tree →
sense in the lessons
In everyday life in Australia, people wear thongs to the beach; in the UK they are called flip-flops, in New Zealand jandals. In history, leather thongs tied shoes and tools. Because the word means underwear in the UK and USA, it causes funny misunderstandings between countries.
examples
- Don't forget your thongs for the beach! (Australia) tree →
- My thongs broke and I had to walk barefoot. (Australia) tree →
- In the UK, thongs are called flip-flops. tree →
- The sandal was tied with a leather thong. tree →
- The necklace hung on a leather thong. tree →
- Kiwis call them jandals, Aussies call them thongs. tree →
- Finally, he found and drew forth a nicely plaited whip-thong with a red snapper all waxed and knotted. tree →
note
Countable; usually plural for footwear: a pair of thongs. Trap: an Australian asking for thongs means flip-flops, not underwear. Said with a hard g at the end: thong rhymes with long.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «thong» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.