Tang is a strong, sharp taste that makes your mouth pucker slightly or tingle. Orange juice has a tangy sweetness, while lemonade's tang comes from the tartness of lemons. When you bite into a crisp apple or taste yogurt, that bright, zesty flavor that wakes up your taste buds is its tang.

The word captures something specific: a lively, vibrant sharpness that adds excitement to food. A salad dressing might have tang from vinegar or citrus. Pickles get their tang from being soaked in brine. Even the smell of the ocean can have a salty tang.

Tang can also mean a sharp ringing sound, like when you flick a metal ruler and hear it vibrate: tang, tang, tang. You might hear this tang when someone strikes a bell or taps a tuning fork.

Less commonly, a tang is the part of a knife blade that extends into the handle, holding everything together securely. A full-tang knife has metal running all the way through the handle, making it stronger and more durable than one where the metal only goes partway in.