thong

Etymology

From Middle English thong, thwong, thwang, from Old English þwong, þwang, þweng, þwæng (“thong, band, strap, cord, strip of leather; phylactery”), from Proto-West Germanic *þwangi, from Proto-Germanic *þwangiz, *þwanguz (“coercion, constraint, band, clamp, strap”), from Proto-Indo-European *twenk- (“to squeeze, press, pressure”). Cognate with Scots thwang, thwayng, thang (“thong”), Middle Low German dwenge (“clamp, jaws, steel-trap”), German Zwinge (“vise, clamp”), Danish tvinge (“clamp”), dialectal Norwegian tveng (“shoestrap, shoelace”), Icelandic þvengur (“strap, thong, latchet”).

noun

1. A strip of leather.
2. (usually in the plural, Australia) An item of footwear, usually of rubber, secured by two straps which join to pass between the big toe and its neighbour.
   Because of August he wears shorts and sandals, the Japanese geta sort called thongs. 16 March 1963, Hal Porter, “Little old lady passing by”, in The Bulletin, page 22, column 3
   T-shirts, cut-offs, and a pair of thongs (T-shirts, cut-offs, and a pair of thongs). 1964, The Beach Boys, All Summer Long
   2006, Peter Murray, David Poole, Grant Jones, Contemporary Issues in Management and Organisational Behaviour, Thomson, page 108, Players turned up for questioning wearing thongs, shorts and T-shirts.
   Thongs are the favoured footwear for many Aussies, especially near the beaches, but most people in the Outback find that they can′t put a foot wrong with a tough, nicely worn-in pair or workboots. 2008, Steve Parish, Eccentric Australia, page 104
   You shouldn′t face condescension if you rock into a boutique in your thongs and a singlet, but neither will you be treated like a princess just because you′ve splashed $5000 on daddy′s credit card. 2009, Charles Rawlings-Way, Sydney, Lonely Planet, page 126
3. (UK, US) An undergarment or swimwear consisting of very narrow strips designed to cover just the genitals and nothing more.
   She was impressed by her friend's confidence to wear a thong on the crowded beach.
4. The largest section of a bullwhip constructed of many straps of braided leather.