Borrowed from Vietnamese đồng, from Middle Chinese 銅 (duwng, “copper”), from Old Chinese 銅 (*doːŋ). Cognate with Mandarin 銅 /铜 (tóng, “copper”).
Meanings
The currency of Vietnam, 100 xus. Symbol: ₫
(historical) The currency of South Vietnam, 100 xus. Symbol: Đ.
Forms
Spelling
Features
Labels
Source
đồng
alternative, uncommon
lexicographic
dong
Number=Plur
lexicographic
dongs
Number=Plur
lexicographic
Translations (21)
th ด่ง (currency of Vietnam) · hu đồng (currency of Vietnam) · ja ドン (currency of Vietnam) · ru донг (currency of Vietnam) · pt dong (currency of Vietnam) · ar دُونْغ (currency of Vietnam) · fr dong (currency of Vietnam) · hi दोंग (currency of Vietnam) · vi đồng (currency of South Vietnam) · cmn 盾 (currency of Vietnam) · pt dong (currency of South Vietnam) · ko 동 (currency of Vietnam) · cmn 越盾 (currency of Vietnam) · km ដុង (currency of Vietnam) · el ντονγκ (currency of Vietnam) · de Dong (currency of Vietnam) · cmn 越南盾 (currency of Vietnam) · lo ດົ່ງ (currency of Vietnam) · ms dong (currency of Vietnam) · vi đồng (currency of Vietnam) · ar دُونْج (currency of Vietnam)
Unknown. Perhaps suggested by dingus and other names for unnamable objects; perhaps suggesting of a sound of striking (perhaps the clapper of a bell; compare ding-dong); perhaps there is an element of donkey in it. First attested in the 1890s.
Meanings
(slang) The penis.
Isn't it awfully nice to have a penis?
Isn't it frightfully good to have a dong? 1983, “Penis Song”, in Monty Python's The Meaning of Life:
Nevertheless, I was wholly incapable of keeping my paws from my dong once it started the climb up my belly. 1969, Philip Roth, Portnoy’s Complaint, page 18:
"That American girl was after you too, wasn't she?"
"She didn't mean anything she said. She was just after your dong. But it's mine."
"For sure, Mary." 1955, J P Donleavy, The Ginger Man, published 1955 (France), page 344:
(broadly, slang) A dildo, specifically a synthetic anatomical replica of the penis.
ru дон (onomatopoeia for the ringing sound made by a bell with a low pitch) · cmn 噹 /当 (onomatopoeia for the ringing sound made by a bell with a low pitch)