tang

See also: Tang, tāng, táng, tàng, tǎng, tăng, tång, tâng, tảng, tạng, tặng, and tầng

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tæŋ/
• Rhymes: -æŋ

Etymology 1

From Middle English tang (“serpent's tongue", "extension of blade”), from Old Norse tangi (“pointed metal tool”), perhaps related to tunga (“tongue”). But see also Old Dutch tanger (“sharp", "tart", "pinching”)

This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Noun

tang (plural tangs)

1. (obsolete) tongue
   • 1667, John Lacy, Sauny the Scot: Or, the Taming of the Shrew, Act V,

     Sauny Hear ye, sir; could not ye mistake, and pull her tang out instead of her teeth?

2. A refreshingly sharp aroma or flavor
   • 1904, O. Henry, "The Missing Chord"

     The miraculous air, heady with ozone and made memorably sweet by leagues of wild flowerets, gave tang and savour to the breath.

3. A strong or offensive taste; especially, a taste of something extraneous to the thing itself.

   Wine or cider has a tang of the cask.

4. (figuratively) A sharp, specific flavor or tinge
   • Fuller

     Such proceedings had a strong tang of tyranny.

   • Jeffrey

     a cant of philosophism, and a tang of party politics

   • 1913, Paul Laurence Dunbar, "At Sunset Time"

     What, was it I who bared my heart / Through unrelenting years, / And knew the sting of misery's dart, / The tang of sorrow's tears?

5. A projecting part of an object by means of which it is secured to a handle, or to some other part.
6. The part of a knife, fork, file, or other small instrument, which is inserted into the handle
7. The projecting part of the breech of a musket barrel, by which the barrel is secured to the stock
8. The part of a sword blade to which the handle is fastened
9. Anything resembling a tongue in form or position such as the tongue of a buckle.
10. A group of saltwater fish from the Acanthuridae family, especially the Zebrasoma genus, also known as the surgeonfish.

Synonyms

• bite
• piquancy
• spiciness

Antonyms

• blandness
• dullness

Derived terms

terms derived from tang (noun)

• tangy
• clown tang
• purple tang
• Red Sea sailfin tang

• sohal tang
• spotted unicorn tang
• yellow tang

See also

• Tang (fish) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Translations

tongue — see tongue

refreshingly sharp aroma

• Finnish: kirpeys (fi)

strong or offensive taste

• Finnish: kitkeryys (fi)

• French: saveur piquante

figuratively: sharp, specific flavor

• Finnish: maku (fi)

projecting part of an object by means of which it is secured to some other part

• Finnish: ruoti (fi), kieli (fi)

part of small instrument inserted into handle

• Finnish: ruoti (fi)
• German: Erl, Angel (de)
• Italian: codolo (it) m

• Korean: 슴베 (seumbe)
• Russian: хвостовик (ru) m (xvostovik)

projecting part of a musket barrel

part of a sword blade

• Finnish: ruoti (fi)

• Japanese: 茎 (ja) (なかご, nakago)

anything resembling a tongue in form or position

• Finnish: kieli (fi)

fish from the Acanthuridae family

• Finnish: välskäri (fi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Spanish: sabor fuerte; acidez f, sabor ácido; olor penetrante

Etymology 2

imitative

Noun

tang (plural tangs)

1. A sharp, twanging sound; an unpleasant tone; a twang

Verb

tang (third-person singular simple present tangs, present participle tanging, simple past and past participle tanged)

1. (dated, beekeeping) To strike two metal objects together loudly in order to persuade a swarm of honeybees to land so it may be captured by the beekeeper.
2. To make a ringing sound; to ring.

   Let thy tongue tang arguments of state. — Shakespeare.

Etymology 3

Probably of Scandinavian origin; compare Danish tang (“seaweed”), Swedish tång, Icelandic þang

Noun

tang (plural tangs)

1. (rare) knotted wrack, Ascophyllum nodosum (coarse blackish seaweed)

Translations

Ascophyllum nodosum — see knotted wrack

Etymology 4

From poontang by shortening

Noun

tang (plural tangs)

1. (vulgar slang) The vagina
   • 2002, Lynn Breedlove, Godspeed, St. Martin's Griffin, ISBN 0-312-31363-2, page 9,

     The guys like to look at her tang, because that's how they are […]

2. (vulgar slang) intercourse with a woman

Anagrams

• Gant, Gnat, gnat

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Danish

Etymology 1

From Old Norse tǫng.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tanɡ/, [tˢɑŋˀ]

Noun

tang c (singular definite tangen, plural indefinite tænger)

1. tongs
2. forceps

Inflection

Declension of tang

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	tang	tangen	tænger	tængerne
genitive	tangs	tangens	tængers	tængernes

Etymology 2

From Old Norse þang.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tanɡ/, [tˢɑŋˀ]

Noun

tang c (singular definite tangen, not used in plural form)

1. seaweed

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Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch tanghe, from Old Dutch tanga, from Proto-Germanic *tangō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɑŋ/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑŋ

Noun

tang f (plural tangen, diminutive tangetje n)

1. pliers
2. tongs
3. (especially the diminutive) pincers, tweezers
4. (figuratively) shrew, bitch

Derived terms

• kniptang
• krultang
• nijptang
• pijptang
• waterpomptang

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Estonian

Noun

tang (genitive [please provide], partitive [please provide])

1. groat

Declension

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

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Kriol

Etymology

From English tongue.

Noun

tang

1. tongue

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Kurdish

Noun

tang ?

1. side

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Kusunda

Noun

tang

1. water

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Mandarin

Romanization

tang

1. Nonstandard spelling of tāng.
2. Nonstandard spelling of táng.
3. Nonstandard spelling of tǎng.
4. Nonstandard spelling of tàng.

Usage notes

• English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

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Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

From Old Norse tǫng

Noun

tang f, m (definite singular tanga or tangen, indefinite plural tenger, definite plural tengene)

1. (a pair of) pliers, pincers
2. (a pair of) forceps

Derived terms

• knipetang

See also

• tong (Nynorsk)

Etymology 2

From Old Norse þang, compare with German Tang

Noun

tang m (definite singular tangen, uncountable)
tang n (definite singular tanget, uncountable)

1. kelp, seaweed (order Fucales)

References

• “tang” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse þang

Noun

tang m (definite singular tangen, uncountable)
tang n (definite singular tanget, uncountable)

1. kelp, seaweed (order Fucales)

References

• “tang” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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Tok Pisin

Etymology 1

From English tongue.

Noun

tang

1. tongue

Etymology 2

From English tank.

Noun

tang

1. tank

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Torres Strait Creole

Etymology

From English tongue.

Noun

tang

1. (anatomy) tongue

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Vietnamese

Noun

tang

1. (trigonometry) tangent