also hang-nail, 1670s, probably folk etymology alteration (as if from hang (v.) + (finger) nail) of Middle English agnail, angnail, from Old English agnail, angnail "a corn on the foot," perhaps literally a "painful spike" (in the flesh), from Proto-Germanic *ang- "compressed, hard, painful" (from PIE *angh- "tight, painfully constricted, painful;" see anger) + Old English nægl "spike" (see nail (n.)). Compare Old English angnes "anxiety, trouble, pain, fear," angset "eruption, pustule."
