Rung
/rʌŋ/noun
A step of a ladder or a horizontal crosspiece between supports.
Did you know?The ladder sense of rung is a later development from a word meaning a bar or support, while the identical spelling also survives as the past tense of ring, from a completely different Old English verb.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*krem-
“to hang, suspend”
Old English
OE
hringan
“to ring, sound”
Old English
OE
rung
“a bar or support; a rung of a ladder”
Middle English
ME
rung
“a crosspiece or step on a ladder”
Modern English
English
rung
“a step of a ladder or the past tense of ring”