Hangers

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Supporting implements used to keep apparel off surfaces and in good condition
2. Tools designed to suspend garments or other items, preventing creases and maintaining shape
3. Objects made to hold clothing or belongings by hanging, ensuring they stay organized and unwrinkled

Etymology: The word "hangers" is simply the plural of "hanger", and the singular is a plain, transparent formation: the verb "hang" with the agent ending "-er", so it names whatever does the hanging. That same building block gives us the Old English "hangian" family's descendants in many modern nouns, and the pattern has stayed productive in English for centuries. The noun reached English in Middle English as "hanger", "haunger" or "hangere", and its Germanic relatives tell the same story. Dutch has "hanger", German "Hänger", Swedish "hängare" and Danish "hænger", all meaning the same thing, which shows the formation was already common across the northern Germanic and Low German languages long before the modern clothes-hanger existed. One curious detail is that "hanger" also has a second, unrelated-looking source: an English blend of "hunger" and "anger", a combination that shows how two words can merge into a new form.

Synonyms: supports, suspenders, clothes hangers