jong

See also: Jong

English

Etymology 1

From Tibetan རྫོང (rdzong, “fortress, castle; province, district”).

Alternative forms

• dzong

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dʒɒŋ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /dʒɔŋ/
  • (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /dʒɑŋ/
• Rhymes: -ɒŋ

Noun

jong (plural jongs)

1. A Tibetan building which makes up a prefecture; typically a monastery or fortress.
   • 1905, Perceval Landon, The Opening of Tibet:

     The rock on which the jong stands must at one time have been lapped by the waters of the lake, but at the present time the Yam-dok tso has retreated so far, that a quashy stretch of vivid green quagmire spreads between the road and the shore.

   • 1933, Robert Byron, First Russia, Then Tibet, Tauris Parke, published 2011, page 211:

     When they had gone I went for a solitary ride, rounding the Jong and striking out into the country through a subsidiary village.

   • 1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society, published 2010, page 451:

     However, the Tibetans refused to negotiate – except on the British side of the frontier – and withdrew into their fortress, or jong.

   • 2011, Peter Harrison, Fortress Monasteries of the Himalayas, Osprey, published 2011, page 14:

     The origin of the Tibetan dzong is not known although there is evidence of Chinese and Mongol influences in the style of their military architecture.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Afrikaans jong (“male servant; boy”), from Dutch jongen (“young”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jɒŋ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒŋ

Noun

jong (plural jongs)

1. (South Africa, slang) A friendly term of address, especially for a young man.
   • 1975, Sheila Roberts, Outside Life's Feast: Short Stories, Johannesburg: Ad. Donker, →ISBN, page 28:

     I take out my pocket knife and start to smooth it. What do you want with that stick says Jan. Nothing. Well throw it away. No jong I am going to keep it.

Further reading

• “jong, noun and interjection”, in Dictionary of South African English, Makhanda, Eastern Cape: Dictionary Unit for South African English, 1996–2026.
• “jong n.¹”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present.

Etymology 3

See djong.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dʒɒŋ/
• Rhymes: -ɒŋ

Noun

jong (plural jongs)

1. Alternative form of djong (“type of sailing ship”).

Etymology 4

Etymology tree

Chinese 麻將 / 麻将bor.

English mahjongclip.

English jong

Clipping of mahjong.

Noun

jong (uncountable)

1. (slang, mahjong) Clipping of mahjong.
   • 2023 October 30, @pipkinpippa, X‎^[1] (post), archived from the original on 5 September 2026:

     Shut up and play jong

   • 2025 January 23, u/Deosier, “FF14 mahjong players?”, in r/Mahjong‎^[2] (Reddit post), archived from the original on 6 September 2026:

     Im mostly playing jong on aether or crystal

   • 2026 September 5, @NTGdtm, X‎^[3] (post), archived from the original on 5 September 2026:

     You know we playing pool jong

Verb

jong (third-person singular simple present jongs, present participle jonging, simple past and past participle jonged)

1. (slang, mahjong) To play mahjong.
   • 2023 August 11, @AmanogawaShiina, X‎^[4] (post), archived from the original on 6 September 2026:

     It's time to jong. 🀄️

   • 2024 December 16, @bunnygirlplayth.ing, Bluesky‎^[5], archived from the original on 6 September 2026:

     jonging tf out 🀄

   • 2026 September 3, @AirinTV, X‎^[6] (post), archived from the original on 6 September 2026:

     All mahjong, no breaks, just nonstop jonging!!!

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch jongen.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jɔŋ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

jong (plural jongens)

1. A male servant.
2. (rare) A boy.

   Synonym: seun

Related terms

• jonk

Adjective

jong

1. attributive form of jonk

Chungli Ao

Etymology

From Proto-Central Naga *a-tsuŋ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʃuŋ˩/, [tʃuŋ˩]

Noun

jong

1. shield

Further reading

• Bruhn, Daniel Wayne (2014), A Phonological Reconstruction of Proto-Central Naga‎^[7], Berkeley: University of California, pages 69, 247-248
• Gowda, K. S. Gurubasave (1985), Ao-English-Hindi Dictionary, Mysore: Central Institute of Indian Languages, page 33
• Clark, Mary M. (1893), Ao Naga grammar with illustrative phrases and vocabulary, Molung: Assam Secretariat Printing Office, page 159

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch jonc, from Old Dutch junc, from Proto-West Germanic *jung, from Proto-Germanic *jungaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂yuh₁n̥ḱós. Compare German jung, English young, Danish ung, Icelandic ungur.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jɔŋ/
• Rhymes: -ɔŋ

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

jong (comparative jonger, superlative jongst)

1. young
2. new

Declension

Declension of jong
uninflected	jong
inflected	jonge
comparative	jonger
		positive	comparative	superlative
predicative/adverbial		jong	jonger	het jongst het jongste
indefinite	m./f. sing.	jonge	jongere	jongste
	n. sing.	jong	jonger	jongste
	plural	jonge	jongere	jongste
definite		jonge	jongere	jongste
partitive		jongs	jongers	—

Antonyms

• oud

Derived terms

• jong geleerd is oud gedaan
• jonge hond
• jongeheer
• jonggehandicapt
• verjongen

Descendants

• Afrikaans: jonk
• Berbice Creole Dutch: junggu
• Negerhollands: jun
• Skepi Creole Dutch: jungu
• → Papiamentu: yòn, jonk
• → Saramaccan: njonku

Noun

jong n (plural jongen, diminutive jonkie n or jongske n)

1. a young: a young being, especially an immature animal

Derived terms

• hoerenjong
• joch
• rotjong

Descendants

• Negerhollands: jong, juṅ
  • → Virgin Islands Creole: jun (dated)

Verb

jong

1. inflection of jongen:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative

See also

• jongen

Garo

Noun

jong

1. younger brother

Synonyms

• jonggipa (formal)
• jojong
• angjong

Javanese

Romanization

jong

1. romanization of ꦗꦺꦴꦁ

Khasi

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɟoŋ/

Particle

jong

1. genitive particle, of

   paralok jong nga ― my friend

Limburgish

Alternative forms

• jónk (Central Limburgish, East Limburgish, Southeast Limburgish, North Limburgish)
  • joonk (Maastrichtian)
  • jonk (Southeast Limburgish, Eupen)
• jóng (widespread variant)

Etymology

From Middle Dutch jonc, from Old Dutch jung, from Proto-West Germanic *jung, from Proto-Germanic *jungaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂yuh₁n̥ḱós.

Adjective

jong

1. (rare variant) young

Alternative forms

• Jong (German-based spelling)
• jonk, Jonk (Southeast Limburgish)

Antonyms

• aajd

Noun

jong m (plural jonges)

1. boy, young guy
2. (colloquial, Maastrichtian) a colloquial term of address for a man, along the lines of e.g. mate

   Wie geit 't mèt diech jong?

   How are you doing mate?

3. A young: a young being, especially an animal.

Derived terms

• jungske (diminutive)

Luxembourgish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /joŋ/
• Rhymes: -oŋ

Adjective

jong (masculine jongen, neuter jongt, comparative méi jong, superlative am jéngsten)

1. (regional, dated) alternative form of jonk

Declension

Declension of jong

		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		hien ass jong	si ass jong	et ass jong	si si(nn) jong
nominative / accusative	attributive and/or after determiner	jongen	jong	jongt	jong
	independent without determiner			jonges	jonger
dative	after any declined word	jongen	jonger	jongen	jongen
	as first declined word	jongem		jongem

Related terms

• Jong
• Jongfra

Malay

Etymology

Possibly from either:

• Javanese ꦗꦺꦴꦁ (jong), possibly ultimately from Proto-Mon-Khmer *d₂luuŋ ~ *d₂luŋ ~ *d₂luəŋ ~ *d₂ləŋ (“boat”).
• Hokkien 船 (chûn) or Teochew 船 (zung⁵), from Proto-Min *-džionᴬ (“ship, boat”), from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m-lawŋ (“boat”). Compare Old Chinese 船 (OC *ɦljon) and Chinese 䑸 (zōng).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒoŋ/ [ˈd͡ʒoŋ]
• Rhymes: -d͡ʒɔŋ, -ɔŋ
• Hyphenation: jong

Noun

jong (Jawi spelling جوڠ, plural jong-jong)

1. Jong (a Javanese-Malay cargo and passenger ship)

Descendants

• > Indonesian: jung
• → Chinese: 戎克船 (róngkèchuán)
• → Arabic: جُنْك (junk)
  • → Dutch: jonk, djonk
  • → Portuguese: junco, jungo, junquo (archaic)
    • → English: junk (reinforced by Dutch jonk)
    • → Italian: giunca, giunco, giuncho, ioncque (archaic), giunchi, zonchi (in the plural, archaic)
      • → French: jonque
      • → German: Junke, Juncke, Dschunke
      • → Latin: junkus, (New Latin) iunca, (New Latin) iuncus
        • → Dutch: ionco, iunco
        • → Italian: ioncque
          • → French: ionct
          • → Spanish: iuncque
    • → Spanish: junco, juanga, joanga

Further reading

• "jong" in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu (PRPM) [Malay Literary Reference Centre (PRPM)] (in Malay), Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017
  (also see "jong" at PRPM first version)
• “junk, n.³”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2024.