Meaning

noun a loose narrow strip of skin near the base of a fingernail; tearing it produces a painful sore that is easily infected

originA corruption of agnail (literally “painful (anguished) nail”), by folk-etymological reanalysis as hang + nail; from Middle English agnail, from Old English angnæġl, from ang- (“tight/painful”) + næġl (“nail”). The first part is from Proto-Germanic *anguz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂énǵʰus (“narrow, tight”), while the second is from Proto-Germanic *naglaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃negʰ-. The…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0