piercing

From pierce + -ing.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɪɹsɪŋ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɪəsɪŋ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)sɪŋ
• Hyphenation: piercing

piercing

1. present participle and gerund of pierce

piercing (countable and uncountable, plural piercings)

1. gerund of pierce
3. A hole made in the body so that jewellery can be worn through it.

   ear piercing

5. An item of jewellery designed to be fitted through a piercing (noun sense 2).

• → Catalan: pírcing
• → French: piercing
• → German: Piercing
• → Hebrew: פִּירְסִינְג
• → Portuguese: piercing, pírcingue (Portugal, adapted form)
• → Spanish: pirsin

piercing (comparative more piercing, superlative most piercing)

1. Appearing to look deeply into; penetrating.

   Synonym: gimlety

   piercing eyes

2. Of temperature, extremely cold so that it penetrates through clothing and shelter.

   Synonym: raw

3. Of sound, loud and sharp; shrill.

   The piercing noise of the children could be heard two blocks from the elementary school.

   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbj&oslash￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 155:

     In the meantime the saw was stopped and two of the men began filing and sharpening the blades, which produced such a piercing sound that it went through bone and marrow.

Borrowed from English piercing.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpiːr.sɪŋ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: pier‧cing

piercing m (plural piercings, diminutive piercinkje n)

1. piercing (ornament)

• lippiercing
• navelpiercing
• neuspiercing
• tepelpiercing
• wenkbrauwpiercing

Borrowed from English piercing.

• IPA^(key): /pɛʁ.siŋ/

• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

piercing m (plural piercings)

1. a piercing

Unadapted borrowing from English piercing.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpir.sinɡ/, /ˈpir.sin/
• Rhymes: -irsinɡ, -irsin
• Hyphenation: pìer‧cing

piercing m (invariable)

1. piercing (jewellery worn through a hole in the skin or tongue)

• ciprigne, precingi

Unadapted borrowing from English piercing.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpir.siŋk/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -irsiŋk
• Syllabification: pier‧cing

piercing m inan

1. piercing (jewellery worn through a hole in the skin or tongue)

• “piercing”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[1] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “piercing”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[2] (in Polish)

• pírcingue (Portugal, adapted form)

Unadapted borrowing from English piercing.

piercing m (plural piercings)

1. piercing (hole for jewelry)
2. piercing (the jewelry itself)
   • 1999 March, Zeca Baleiro, “Piercing” (0:19 from the start), in Vô Imbolá ft. Faces do Subúrbio, Rio de Janeiro: MZA Music:

     Tire o seu piercing do caminho / Que eu quero passar / Quero passar, com a minha dor

     Take your piercing out of my way / Because I wanna get away / Wanna get away with my pain

   • 2002, “Documento Trololó – Sadomasoquistas”, in Hermes e Renato‎^[3], spoken by Josue (Marco Antônio Alves), São Paulo, via MTV Brasil:

     Eu comecei com um piercingzinho na orelha, né, ue na época, não era nem piercing, era brinco na orelha. E, aí, aderi à moda, cara. Virou não só moda mas um prazer, né, que a dor do piercing me proporcionava. Hoje em dia, eu tenho piercing pelo corpo inteiro. Eu sou viciado em piercing. Eu posso te dizer que eu sou viciado em piercing.

     I started with a small piercing in my ear, you know, because, at the time, it wasn't even a "piercing". It was an earring. And, then, I got into it, dude. It wasn't only a fashiontrend but a pleasure, you know, the pain that getting a piercing provided me. Nowadays, I have piercings all over my body, I'm addicted to piercings. I can tell you I'm addicted to piercings.

• “piercing”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “piercing”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

• pirsin

Unadapted borrowing from English piercing.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpiɾsin/ [ˈpiɾ.sĩn], /ˈpiɾsinɡ/ [ˈpiɾ.sĩŋɡ]
  • Rhymes: -iɾsin, -iɾsinɡ
• IPA^(key): /ˈpjeɾθinɡ/ [ˈpjeɾ.θĩŋɡ], /pjeɾˈθinɡ/ [pjeɾˈθĩŋɡ] (Equatorial Guinea, Spain)
• IPA^(key): /ˈpjeɾsinɡ/ [ˈpjeɾ.sĩŋɡ], /pjeɾˈsinɡ/ [pjeɾˈsĩŋɡ] (Latin America, Philippines)
  • Rhymes: -eɾθinɡ, -inɡ (Equatorial Guinea, Spain)
  • Rhymes: -eɾsinɡ, -inɡ (Latin America, Philippines)
• Syllabification: pier‧cing

piercing m (plural piercings)

1. piercing

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

• “piercing”, in Diccionario panhispánico de dudas [Panhispanic Dictionary of Uncertainties] (in Spanish), 2nd edition, Royal Spanish Academy; Association of Academies of the Spanish Language, 2023, →ISBN
• Seco, Manuel; Andrés, Olimpia; Ramos, Gabino (2023), “piercing”, in Diccionario del español actual (in Spanish), third digital edition, Fundación BBVA

Borrowed from English piercing.

piercing c

1. piercing (body art)

• ansiktspiercing
• kroppspiercing

From English piercing.

piercing (definite accusative piercingi, plural piercingler)

1. piercing

• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–), “piercing”, in Nişanyan Sözlük