Other forms: piercings
A piercing is a hole made in the body so that a ring or a stud can be worn in it. An ear piercing done in ten seconds at a shop counter, a nose stud, a row of small hoops running up the edge of an ear.
The same word works as an adjective, and there it means sharp enough to go through you. A piercing scream, a piercing whistle from the platform, the piercing cold of a bus stop at six in the morning. Piercing eyes are the ones you cannot look away from: 'he fixed her with a piercing stare.' Behind all of it is the verb pierce — you pierce a hole, you get your ears pierced, a bullet pierces metal — and the person doing the work in the shop is a piercer.
1nounpiercingA hole made in a part of the body so that jewellery can be worn in it.
“She got a second piercing in her left ear.”
2nounringThe ring or stud worn in such a hole.
“He had to take his piercings out before the match.”
3adjectivesoundOf a sound, very loud, high and sharp.
“A piercing whistle came from the far end of the platform.”
4adjectiveeyesOf eyes or a look, sharp and intense, as though seeing through you.
“She has piercing blue eyes and never blinks.”
5adjectivewindOf wind or cold, sharp enough to feel as if it goes through you.
“A piercing wind came off the sea.”
piercing is a body modification.
Latin
pertūsus
Vulgar Latin
*pertūsiō
Old French
percier
Middle English
perce
English
pierce
English, today
piercing
Built from
From pierce + -ing. pierce comes from Middle English perce, from conjugated forms of Old French percier such as pierce (“I pierce”), probably from Vulgar Latin pertūsiō, from Latin pertūsus, past participle of pertundō (“thrust or bore through”), from per- (“through”) + tundō (“beat, pound”). Displaced native þȳrlian.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA