fang

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a long sharp tooth, as of a snake or dog

   The serpent bared a glistening fang.

Simplified etymology

Fang comes from Old Norse fang, associated with capturing or grasping, and in Old English first meant booty or spoils. The sense “trap” or “snare” and the modern sense “large, sharp tooth” both appeared in the mid-16th century, developing from the idea of something that catches and holds.

From Old English 'fang' ('a catching, capture, booty'), from 'fōn' ('to seize'); the modern sense of a long tooth (originally 'that which seizes') developed by the 16th century. Of Proto-Germanic origin from '*fanhaną' ('to catch, seize').

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External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary