Meaning

noun a contest whose outcome is uncertain up to the very end

noun an episode that ends in suspense

originFrom cliff + hanger, evoking the image of someone left hanging from a cliff, thereby having an uncertain fate. The term "cliffhanger" is considered to have originated with the serialised version of Thomas Hardy's "A Pair of Blue Eyes", published in Tinsley's Magazine in the 1870s, in which the character Henry Knight is left hanging off of a cliff. It was inspired by a real life story from his…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0