Tongs are a tool with two long arms connected at one end, used for gripping and lifting things without touching them directly with your hands. Think of how you might pick up a hot ear of corn at a barbecue, or how a chef turns sizzling bacon in a pan. The two arms work like an extension of your fingers, letting you grab things that are too hot, too messy, or too far away to reach comfortably.

Kitchen tongs are probably the ones you've seen most often. They help cooks flip chicken on the grill, toss salad, or pull toast from a toaster without burning their fingers. But tongs come in many specialized forms: blacksmiths use heavy metal tongs to hold red-hot iron while hammering it into shape, scientists use sterile tongs in laboratories, and ice tongs help people handle ice cubes without touching them.

When you use tongs, you're essentially giving yourself a long, heat-proof set of pincers that can safely handle what your bare hands cannot.