The wing of a bird or airplane is the part that allows it to fly through the air. Birds flap their wings to create lift and push themselves upward and forward. Airplanes have rigid wings that don't flap but generate lift as the plane moves forward through the air. Bats have wings too, made of thin skin stretched between their finger bones.

In buildings, a wing is a section that extends out from the main part. A hospital might have an east wing for surgeries and a west wing for patient rooms. Your school probably has different wings for different grade levels or subjects.

In theater, the wings are the areas on the sides of the stage, hidden from the audience. Actors wait in the wings before making their entrance. When someone is preparing for their moment but hasn't started yet, you might say they're waiting in the wings.

The word also appears in useful phrases. When you do something on the wing, you're doing it quickly or spontaneously, without much planning. To wing it means to improvise or do something without preparation, like when you give a presentation without having practiced. And when you take someone under your wing, you're protecting and teaching them, the way a mother bird shelters her chicks.