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"The man was hung at dawn." "The man was hanged at dawn."

Are "hung" and "hanged" entirely interchangeable?

Barrie England
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Jesse
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1 Answers1

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No, they are not entirely interchangeable.

Hanged is the correct past participle of hang = execute.

Hung is the correct past participle of hang = suspend. It is increasingly used for hang = execute as well (possibly as an over-correction as hanged is odd), but where there are two words with distinct usages, it's a great pity to confuse them.

Andrew Leach
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    Why is it a pity? There can’t be much doubt over what The man was hung at dawn means. – Barrie England Apr 06 '13 at 18:57
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    Because it reduces diversity and the richness of the language. And while there may be no doubt about what the author of that sentence might have meant, it isn't what he said. Body suspension (not for the faint-hearted!) – Andrew Leach Apr 06 '13 at 19:17
  • @BarrieEngland I wouldn't have much doubt over what The curtains were hung at dawn meant, but that's exactly how The man was hung at dawn strikes my ear. So I put in with Andrew on this one. – John M. Landsberg Apr 06 '13 at 19:26
  • It's another shibboleth. Nothing more. – Barrie England Apr 06 '13 at 19:33
  • @BarrieEngland That's what this site is for. – Andrew Leach Apr 06 '13 at 19:42
  • At http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/hang : << ... Hung is the normal form in most general uses, e.g. they hung out the washing ... ; but hanged is the form normally used in reference to execution by hanging: the prisoner was hanged. The reason for this distinction is a complex historical one: hanged, the earlier form, was superseded by hung sometime after the 16th century; it is likely that the retention of hanged for the execution sense may have to do with the tendency of archaic forms to remain in the legal language of the courts.>> Sounds shibbolethic to me. – Edwin Ashworth Apr 06 '13 at 21:31