tango

tango

2. Alternative letter-case form of Tango of the ICAO/NATO radiotelephony alphabet.

Borrowed from Rioplatense Spanish tango, probably from a Niger-Congo language (compare Ibibio tamgu (“to dance”)).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtæ̞ŋɡəʊ̯/, [ˈtʰæ̞ŋɡəʊ̯]
• (General American, without æ-raising) IPA^(key): /ˈtæ̝ŋɡoʊ̯/, [ˈtʰæ̝ŋɡoʊ̯], /ˈtæ̝ŋɡɔʊ̯/, [ˈtʰæ̝ŋɡɔʊ̯]
  • (æ-raising) IPA^(key): /ˈteɪ̯ŋɡoʊ̯/, [ˈteɪ̯ŋɡoʊ̯], /ˈtɛ̃ŋɡoʊ̯/, [ˈtʰɛ̃ŋɡoʊ̯]
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈtæ̞ŋɡəʉ̯/, [ˈtʰæ̞ŋɡəʉ̯], /ˈtæ̞ŋɡɐ̞ʉ̯/, [ˈtʰæ̞ŋɡɐ̞ʉ̯]

  • Audio:

    (file)

• Rhymes: -æŋɡəʊ
• Hyphenation: tan‧go

tango (plural tangos or tangoes)

1. (dance) A standard ballroom dance in 4/4 time; or a social dance, the Argentine tango.
2. (dance) A Spanish flamenco dance with different steps from the Argentine.
3. (music) A piece of music suited to such a dance.
4. A dark orange colour shade; deep tangerine

   tango:  

• The name of the flamenco dance may be written tangos.

tango (third-person singular simple present tangoes, present participle tangoing, simple past and past participle tangoed)

1. To dance the tango.
2. (slang, intransitive) To mingle or interact (with each other).
   • 2013, Kathy Casey, D'Lish Deviled Eggs, page 67:

     Creamy cheese, tangy-sweet peppers, and a hit of heat tango in this sexy deviled-egg combo.

• it takes two to tango

From translingual Tango (representing the letter T), from English tango (see above).

tango (plural tangos or tangoes)

2. (international standards) Alternative letter-case form of Tango from the NATO/ICAO Phonetic Alphabet.
4. (US, law enforcement, military slang) A target; an enemy.

   Tango down!

   • 2005, Charles W. Sasser, Detachment Delta: Operation Aces Wild, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 370:

     The two tangoes running toward the carnage at the prison door dropped simultaneously, dead in their tracks.

   • 2017, Beth Rhodes, Strike Zone, →ISBN, page 210:

     The sharp crack of breaking glass preceded Emily's calm voice. "One tango dead and Marcus is down, John."

• whiskey tango foxtrot

• “tango down”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.

• Atong, Tonga, on tag, tag on, tonga

• IPA^(key): /ˈtaŋo/ [ˈt̪a.ŋo]
• Hyphenation: ta‧ngo

tango (Badlit spelling ᜆᜅᜓ)

1. (anatomy) a tooth with a single cusp; a cuspid; a canine

   Coordinate terms: unto, bangkil, bag-ang

2. (zoology) a fang; a long, pointed canine tooth used for biting and tearing flesh or injecting venom
3. (zoology) a tusk; one of a pair of elongated pointed teeth that extend outside the mouth of an animal such as a walrus, elephant or wild boar
4. cog of gears

tango (Badlit spelling ᜆᜅᜓ)

1. to nod

• IPA^(key): /taˈŋoʔ/ [taˈŋoʔ]
• Hyphenation: ta‧ngo

tangô (Basahan spelling ᜆᜅᜓ)

1. a nod

Borrowed from Spanish tango.

tango n

1. tango (Standard ballroom dance in 4/4 time; or a social dance, the Argentine tango)

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Borrowed from Spanish tango.

• IPA^(key): /tanɡo/, [ˈtˢɑŋɡ̊o]

tango c (singular definite tangoen, plural indefinite tangoer)

1. tango

Borrowed from Spanish tango, probably from a Niger-Congo language.

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɑŋ.ɣoː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: tan‧go

tango m (plural tango's, no diminutive)

1. tango (Argentine-Uruguayan dance and musical style)

From Argentine-Spanish tango.

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɑŋːo/, [ˈt̪ɑ̝ŋːo̞]
• Rhymes: -ɑŋːo
• Syllabification^(key): tan‧go
• Hyphenation^(key): tan‧go

tango

1. tango

• “tango”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[1] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 3 July 2023

• Tonga, togan, tonga

• IPA^(key): /tɑ̃.ɡo/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: tan‧go

tango m (plural tangos)

1. tango (dance)
2. tango (music)

• Turkish: tango

• “tango”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

tango

1. first-person singular present indicative of tanguer

• IPA^(key): /ˈtan.ɡo/
• Rhymes: -anɡo
• Hyphenation: tàn‧go

Borrowed from Spanish tango.

tango m (plural tanghi)

1. tango

tango

1. first-person singular present indicative of tangere

• tango in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

• Tonga

tango

1. Rōmaji transcription of たんご
2. Rōmaji transcription of タンゴ

From Proto-Italic *tangō, nasal infix present from Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g-. Cognate with Ancient Greek τάσσω (tássō), τεταγών (tetagṓn),^[1] Old English þaccian (“to touch, pat”). More at thack, thwack.

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈtaŋ.ɡoː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈtaŋ.ɡo]

tangō (present infinitive tangere, perfect active tetigī, supine tāctum); third conjugation

1. (transitive) to touch, grasp

   Synonyms: contingō, temptō, tractō

   Near-synonyms: mulceō, palpō

   Nōlī mē tangere.

   Don't touch me.

2. (transitive) to reach, arrive at, come to a place

   Synonyms: perveniō, adveniō, obeō, adsum, teneō

3. (transitive) to attain to
4. (transitive) to subtract, rob
5. (chiefly poetic, transitive) to strike, beat, knock

   Synonyms: mulcō, feriō, icō, percutiō, impingō, caedō, verberō

6. (transitive) to move, affect, influence

   Synonyms: moveō, perpellō

   • 8 CE, Ovidius, Fasti 5.653:

     saepe tamen patriae dulcī tanguntur amōre

     Yet often they are moved by sweet love of [their] native land

7. (transitive) to bewitch, enchant, charm
8. (transitive) to come home to

¹At least one use of the Old Latin "sigmatic future" and "sigmatic aorist" tenses is attested, which are used by Old Latin writers; most notably Plautus and Terence. The sigmatic future is generally ascribed a future or future perfect meaning, while the sigmatic aorist expresses a possible desire ("might want to").

• “tango”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• tango in Enrico Olivetti, editor (2003-2026), Dizionario Latino, Olivetti Media Communication
• “tango”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “tango”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[2], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • the lightning has struck somewhere: fulmen locum tetigit
    
  • to be struck by lightning: fulmine tangi, ici
    
  • to be struck by lightning: de caelo tangi, percuti
    
  • the country-house stands near the road: villa tangit viam
    
  • to be contiguous, adjacent to a country: tangere, attingere terram
    
  • to touch briefly on a thing: breviter tangere, attingere aliquid
    
  • to make a cursory mention of a thing; to mention by the way (not obiter or in transcursu): strictim, leviter tangere, attingere, perstringere aliquid
    
  • you have hit the nail on the head: rem acu tetigisti
    

Borrowed from Spanish tango.

• IPA^(key): /ˈtaŋ.ɡɔ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aŋɡɔ
• Syllabification: tan‧go

tango n

1. tango (ballroom dance)

• “tango”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[3] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “tango”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[4] (in Polish)

• Rhymes: -ɐ̃ɡu
• Hyphenation: tan‧go

Borrowed from Spanish tango, probably from a Niger-Congo language.

tango m (plural tangos)

1. tango (ballroom dance)
2. a style of music associated with the tango dance (used to accompany and set the beat for the dance)

tango

1. first-person singular present indicative of tangar

• “tango”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “tango”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

tango n (plural tangouri)

1. obsolete form of tangou

• tango in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN

tangô

1. nod

• IPA^(key): /tânɡo/
• Hyphenation: tan‧go

tȁngo m inan (Cyrillic spelling та̏нго)

1. tango (dance)

Derived from Spanish tango.

• IPA^(key): /ˈtaŋɡɔ/

tango n (genitive singular tanga, nominative plural tangá, genitive plural táng, declension pattern of mesto)

1. (dance) tango

• tangový

• “tango”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2026

• IPA^(key): /ˈtanɡo/ [ˈt̪ãŋ.ɡo]
• Rhymes: -anɡo
• Syllabification: tan‧go

Probably from a Niger-Congo language, but an onomatopoeic origin for the dance has been suggested as well.

tango m (plural tangos)

1. tango (ballroom dance)
2. a style of music associated with the tango dance (used to accompany and set the beat for the dance)

• → English: tango
• → Polish: tango
• → Portuguese: tango
• → Swedish: tango

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

tango

1. first-person singular present indicative of tangar

• “tango”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

• Tonga

• Audio (Kenya):

  (file)

Inherited from Proto-Bantu [Term?].

tango class V (plural matango class VI)

1. cucumber

   Synonym: tangopepeta

From -tanga (“to wander, loiter”) +‎ -o.

tango class V (plural matango class VI)

1. wandering, loitering

Borrowed from English tango.

tango class IX (plural tango class X)

1. tango (ballroom dance)

Borrowed from Spanish tango.

• IPA^(key): /ˈtaŋɡʊ/
• Rhymes: -aŋɡʊ
• Hyphenation: tan‧go

tango c

1. (dance) tango

   att dansa tango

   to tango ["to dance type of dance" is idiomatic in Swedish (including for dances that end in "-dans")]

• “tango”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “tango”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “tango”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)

• antog

Compare Central Bikol tango, Kapampangan tangu, and Maranao dango.

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /taˈŋoʔ/ [t̪ɐˈŋoʔ]
• Rhymes: -oʔ
• Syllabification: ta‧ngo

tangô (Baybayin spelling ᜆᜅᜓ)

1. nod; nodding (of the head)

   Synonym: pagtango

2. (by extension) consent; agreement

   Synonyms: pagpayag, pagsang-ayon, pag-oo, pagpapahinuhod, pagpapaoo

• taong, angot, ganto

• IPA^(key): [ˈta.ŋo]

tango

1. (intransitive) to lie down

• Rika Hayami-Allen (2001), A descriptive study of the language of Ternate, the northern Moluccas, Indonesia, University of Pittsburgh

tangó

1. canine tooth
2. tusk of animals