What does "fang" mean?
A long, pointed canine tooth used for biting and tearing flesh.
Fang
/fæŋ/ name, noun, verb, slang
name, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A long, pointed canine tooth used for biting and tearing flesh.
- Grammar: fang is listed as name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: attack, baby tooth, beesting, bicuspid.
- Useful contrasts: incisor, molar, parry.
- Usage evidence: I come to seek my wife, whose opening years the poisonous viper's fang has brought to an untimely end.
How to use "fang"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "fang" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "fang" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "fang" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "fang" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "fang" is acting as name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "attack" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "fang", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A long, pointed canine tooth used for biting and tearing flesh.
"The warrior realized in an instant that he owed his life to this strange white man, and he also saw that only a miracle could save his preserver from those fierce yellow fangs that had been so near to his own flesh."
- 2 A grasping; capture; the act or power of seizing; hold. Scotland, dialectal
- 3 A people of western Africa. plural, plural-only
- 4 hollow or grooved tooth of a venomous snake; used to inject its poison wordnet
- 5 A long pointed tooth in snakes, for injecting venom.
Show 10 more definitions
- 6 That which is seized or carried off; booty; spoils; stolen goods.
- 7 canine tooth of a carnivorous animal; used to seize and tear its prey wordnet
- 8 Either of the two factors that make a number a vampire number.
- 9 Any projection, catch, shoot, or other thing by which hold is taken; a prehensile part or organ.
"Now take out your Indian Tuberoſes, parting the Off-ſets (but with care, leſt you break their fangs) then pot them in natural (not forc'd) Earth; [...] the protuberant fangs of the Yuca are to be treated like the Tuberoſes."
- 10 an appendage of insects that is capable of injecting venom; usually evolved from the legs wordnet
- 11 A channel cut in the rock, or a pipe of wood, used for conveying air.
- 12 a Bantu language spoken in Cameroon wordnet
- 13 Catches on which the coal mining cage rests while cars are being moved on and off. in-plural, rare
- 14 The coil or bend of a rope; (by extension) a noose; a trap.
- 15 The valve of a pump box.
Verb
- 1 To strike or attack with the fangs. rare
- 2 To catch, capture; seize. archaic, dialectal, transitive
"Gentlemen, break not the head of the peace: it's to no purpose, for he's in the law's clutches; you see he's fanged."
- 3 To supply (a pump) with the water necessary for it to operate. Scotland, transitive
- 4 To drive, ride, etc. at high speed or recklessly. Australia, intransitive, slang, transitive
"Soph was probably out drag-racing with Draz, or fanging down some brightly lit street somewhere hanging out Draz's brother's sunroof and waving at passers-by and screaming."
- 5 To enable to catch or tear; to furnish with fangs.
"chariots fang'd with scythes"
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 To take; receive with assent; accept. dialectal, obsolete, transitive
- 7 To receive with hospitality. obsolete, transitive
- 8 To receive. obsolete, transitive
- 9 To receive or adopt into spiritual relation, as in baptism; be godfather or godmother to. dialectal, transitive
Proper Noun
- 1 The dominant Bantu language of Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, spoken by 1.3 million people, also called Pahouin.
- 2 A county of Shiyan, Hubei, China.
"Many valuable medicines are produced in Hupei, particularly in the Shih-nan Prefecture and in the Fang and Hsing-shan districts."
- 3 Four large technology companies, or (metonymically) their stock: Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Google.
"The FANG stocks (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Google) today are leading the charge, and many of them boast P/Es in the hundreds!"
- 4 A Beboid language of Cameroon, spoken by only 2400 people, so called because it is spoken in the village of Fang.
- 5 A surname from Mandarin
Example
"I come to seek my wife, whose opening years the poisonous viper's fang has brought to an untimely end."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "fang"?
Common synonyms include: attack, baby tooth, beesting, bicuspid, bite, booty.
How do you use "fang" in a sentence?
I come to seek my wife, whose opening years the poisonous viper's fang has brought to an untimely end.
How do you pronounce "fang"?
Pronounced /fæŋ/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From an abbreviation of fangtooth, from Middle English *fangtooth, *fengtooth, from Old English fengtōþ (“canine tooth”, literally “snag-tooth, catch-tooth”). Cognate with German Fangzahn (“fang”, literally “catch-tooth”) and Dutch vangtand.
Etymology 2
From Middle English fangen, fongen, from Old English fōn (“to take, grasp, seize, catch, capture, make prisoner, receive, accept, assume, undertake, meet with, encounter”), and Old Norse fanga (“to fetch, capture”), both from Proto-Germanic *fanhaną, *fangōną (“to catch, capture”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ḱ- (“to attach”). Cognate with North Frisian fo, fu, füünj (“to get, obtain, receive”), Saterland Frisian and West Frisian fange (“to catch”), Dutch vangen (“to catch”), German fangen, fahen (“to catch”), Low German fangen (“to catch”), Luxembourgish fänken (“to catch”), Faroese fá, fáa (“to get; to catch”), Icelandic fá (“to get, receive”), Danish, Norwegian, Swedish få (“to get, receive”), Albanian peng (“to hinder, hold captive”), Sanskrit पाशयति (pāśáyati, “(s)he binds”).
Etymology 3
From Middle English fang, possibly from Old English fang, feng (“grasp, catch”); alternatively borrowed from Old Norse fang (“catch”) or formed anew from the verb fangen, all from Proto-Germanic *fangą (“catch, catching, seizure”), from the verb *fanhaną (“to catch, capture”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ḱ- (“to attach”). Compare Scots fang (“catch”), Dutch vang (“a catch”), Low German fangst (“a catch”), German Fang (“a catch, capture, booty”), Swedish fång, fångst, Icelandic fang. Related also to Latin pangere (“to solidify, drive in”), Albanian mpij (“to benumb, stiffen”), Ancient Greek πήγνυμι (pḗgnumi, “to stiffen, firm up”), Sanskrit पाशयति (pāśáyati, “(s)he binds”).
Etymology 4
The Macquarie Dictionary and the Australian National Dictionary Centre derive it from the name of Juan Fangio, Argentinian racing driver.
Etymology 5
The county sense is from Mandarin 房 (Fáng). The surname sense could be from Mandarin 方 (Fāng), 房 (Fáng), 芳 (Fāng), 仿 (Fǎng) or 放 (Fǎng).