Twang is a sharp, vibrating sound like the twang of a rubber band when you pull it back and let it snap, or the twang of a guitar string when you pluck it. The sound has a springy, resonating quality that seems to hang in the air for a moment.

The word also describes a distinctive way of speaking where certain vowel sounds get stretched out and resonate through the nose. People might say someone speaks with a Southern twang or a country twang. In Texas, for example, the word “I” might sound more like “ah,” and “night” might sound more like “naht.” A Boston accent has its own kind of twang, where “car” sounds more like “cah.”

You can also use twang as a verb: a guitar string twangs when you pluck it, and someone twangs away on a banjo. Country music is famous for its twanging guitars and vocals, where both the instruments and the singers' voices have that distinctive vibrating quality.