fang
pronunciation
How to pronounce fang in British English:
UK [fæŋ]
How to pronounce fang in American English:
US [fæŋ]
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- Noun:
- canine tooth of a carnivorous animal; used to seize and tear its prey
- hollow or grooved tooth of a venomous snake; used to inject its poison
Word Origin
- fang
- fang: [11] Fang originally meant ‘prey, spoils’ – a sense which survived well into the 18th century (‘Snap went the sheers, then in a wink, The fang was stow’d behind a bink [bench]’, Morrison, Poems 1790). It was related to a verb fang ‘take, capture’ which was very common in the Old and Middle English period, and which, like its surviving cousins German fangen, Dutch vangen, and Swedish fånga, goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *fangg- (English newfangled [15] is a memory of it).The application of the word to an animal’s tooth does not emerge until as late as the 16th century, and although the broad semantic connection between ‘seizing’ and ‘sharp canine tooth’ is clear, the precise mechanism behind the development is not known.=> newfangled
- fang (n.)
- Old English fang "prey, spoils, plunder, booty; a seizing or taking," from gefangen, strong past participle of fon "seize, take, capture," from Proto-Germanic *fango- (cognates: Old Frisian fangia, Middle Dutch and Dutch vangen, Old Norse fanga, German fangen, Gothic fahan), from PIE root *pag- "to make firm, fix;" connected to Latin pax (genitive pacis) "peace" (see pact). The sense of "canine tooth" (1550s) was not in Middle English and probably developed from Old English fengtoð, literally "catching- or grasping-tooth." Compare German Fangzahn. Transferred to the venom tooth of a serpent, etc., by 1800.
Example
- 1. Fang is dubious about the value of such efforts .
- 2. Inside the north star , the wolf 's fang .
- 3. Dr xiao 's response was to take dr fang to court for libel-frequently .
- 4. Fang 's mistress recruited them with the promise of $ 10 a day in wages .
- 5. Fang said most countries had some controls on internet access .