hangs

Hangs is the third-person singular present tense form of the verb hang. It describes the action of suspending something from above or causing it to be supported by a line, hook, or other anchor, or simply being in a suspended position. Common examples include a picture that hangs on a wall, a lamp that hangs from the ceiling, or clothing that hangs in a closet. The phrase hang on also appears in idioms meaning to rely on something or to hold on during a pause or delay.

In English grammar, the past tense of hang meaning to suspend is hung, and the past participle is hung as well. For execution, many varieties of English use hanged as the past tense and past participle. Thus, one might say the painting hung on the wall yesterday, but a person was hanged for a crime. The present form remains hangs when the subject is he, she, or it.

Etymology traces hangs to Old English hangian, hængan, with cognates across the Germanic languages, such as Dutch hangen and German hängen. The basic sense of suspending objects has long been stable, while the related forms for past actions reflect historical shifts in usage, particularly concerning execution versus casual suspension.

Beyond everyday usage, hangs can appear in computing to describe a program or system that becomes unresponsive, as in "the system hangs." It also appears in phrases and idioms related to attachment and suspension in various domains.