Tang

How to spell tang

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce tang

What does tang mean?

1. nounA strong, sharp taste or smell that stands out distinctly.
2. nounThe projecting piece of metal on a blade or tool that fits into the handle.

Tang in a sentence

• The marmalade had a bitter tang that lingered on the tongue.

• The knife loosened because the tang had cracked inside the handle.

• Sea air carried a salty tang across the harbour.

• A full tang runs the entire length of the wooden grip for strength.

Where does tang come from?

Language of origin: Old Norse

This word comes from the Old Norse tangi, which meant a sharp point, a spike, or a projecting tongue of land. Norse settlers brought it into northern England during the Viking age, and its earliest English use was the concrete one still found in toolmaking: the narrow tongue of metal at the end of a blade that is driven into the handle. From that idea of a sharp projection, English speakers extended the word figuratively to a sharp, penetrating quality, which is how it came to mean a strong, biting taste or smell that seems to prick the senses. The same Norse root is a relative of words for tongs and the pincers of a tool, all built on the notion of something pointed that grips or juts out. Because the word is short and Norse rather than Latin, its spelling stayed plain and phonetic, with no silent letters to trip up a writer.

How the word is built

• tang (from Old Norse tangi: a point or spike), no affixes