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fang (făng)
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n.
1. Any of the hollow or grooved teeth of a venomous snake with which it injects venom.
2. A long, sharp, pointed tooth, especially a canine tooth of a carnivorous animal, such as a dog or wolf, with which it seizes and tears its prey.
3. The root of a tooth or a pronglike division of such a root.
4. A fanglike structure, especially a chelicera of a venomous spider.
[Middle English, booty, spoils, something seized, from Old English; see pag- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]
fanged adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2020 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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