It comes from the sound of things that go ping. In fact, though, it is an onomatopoeia it has no linguistic origins, no etymology but noise. What is a ping? As a word, it already seems partial, like a suffix: beeping, keeping, hoping, gaping, dropping, stopping, _-ping, ping. Several days ago, those closest to the search grew hopeful that the plane would finally be found, after ships in the area detected underwater signals consistent with the kind transmitted by flight recorders: pings. Analysis of that partial ping suggested that the plane had gone down somewhere in the south Indian Ocean, a conclusion now supported by all official investigations. After all human communication from the airplane ceased, the plane itself, a Boeing 777, sent out one last “partial ping”: an automated but incomplete attempt to communicate with a satellite, as commercial airplanes normally do every hour while in operation. One month ago this week, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 vanished from the face of the Earth - or into the face of the Earth, into its waters, into total and upsetting silence - and ever since, I have been thinking about the word ping. Mark Matthews holds an Acoustic Pinger in front of ADV Ocean Shield on March 30, 2014, in Perth, Australia.

Difference between pinger and pinger ex