Dingling

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. A light, tinkling ring produced when a small bell or metal object is struck or shaken
2. The clear, jingling sound of a little bell being rung repeatedly
3. Describing the sharp, bright chime that a small handbell or charm gives off when it moves

Etymology: The sound comes first. "Ding" imitates the ringing of a small bell, and English has used it that way for centuries. Doubling it into a rhyming pattern, as in "ding-a-ling," gives a bouncing, tinkling sound, and "dingling" follows the same echoic pattern. The slang sense seems to have grown from that noise. A bell's jingle is cheerful and a little empty, and speakers likely transferred that quality to a person: a ding-a-ling is someone whose head rattles with nothing much inside, an eccentric or a fool. The exact route from sound to insult is not fully documented, so the link is best understood as a plausible extension of the bell image rather than a recorded step-by-step change.