hangnail
Americannoun
noun
Usage
What is a hangnail? A hangnail is a small piece of skin that’s hanging off near the side or base of the fingernail. Despite the name, a hangnail isn’t part of the fingernail itself. When someone says they’ve broken a nail, they mean that part of their fingernail has broken off. A hangnail, though, is a piece of skin that has become detached from the cuticle or skin around the nail. Hangnails are known for hurting more than you’d expect them to, based on their size. For that reason, the word is sometimes used in negative comparisons to indicate that something is unpleasant, irritating, or painful, but not very serious, as in This job is about as much fun as a hangnail, but it shouldn’t take too long. The word is also sometimes used as an example of the most minor kind of injury, as in He would call out sick if he got a hangnail, so there’s no way he’s coming in if he has the flu. Example: Don’t pick at your hangnail—it will be red and sore if you peel it off!
Etymology
Origin of hangnail
1300–50; Middle English angenayle corn, Old English angnægl, equivalent to ang- (variant of enge narrow, painful; cognate with German eng, see anger) + nægl callus, nail; modern h- by association with hang
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The entire novel is imbued with reverence for small moments; Blanca describes her love for George as finding a detail as insignificant as a hangnail “entirely overwhelming, too lovely to bear.”
From New York Times • Aug. 18, 2022
But he played hard every day and limped around the basepaths when many players went on the IL for a hangnail.
From Los Angeles Times • May 9, 2021
“Some people get a hangnail and need to put it out there. He’d break his nose for the third time and wouldn’t say a word.”
From Washington Post • Sep. 1, 2020
She may feel that missing out on a single party activity is like a mild hangnail.
From Slate • Jan. 27, 2020
Ackley said, "I got this hangnail I want to cut off."
From "The Catcher in the Rye" by J. D. Salinger
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
