Hangnail
/ˈhæŋˌneɪl/noun
A small strip of torn skin at the side of a fingernail or toenail.
Did you know?The word once referred to a painful “corn” or growth on the foot, and its older sense may go back to the idea of something that *hangs* or sticks out like a snagged piece of flesh.
Etymological Timeline
Old English
OE
hnægl
“a corn or painful swelling, especially on the foot”
Middle English
ME
hangnail
“a painful corn or excrescence on the foot; later also a torn bit of skin”
16th Century
English
hangnail
“used for a protruding or painful growth, then increasingly for the torn skin beside a nail”
Modern English
English
hangnail
“a small torn piece of skin at the side of a fingernail or toenail”