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tango

Etymology and origin of the English word tango

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈtæ̞ŋɡəʊ̯/ (UK); /ˈtæ̝ŋɡoʊ̯/, /ˈtæ̝ŋɡɔʊ̯/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Spanish tango from Argentine Spanish,[2][3][4][5][6] originally the name of a dance to drums,[3][4] probably of Niger-Congo origin;[2][3][4] Ibibio tamgu “to dance” has been compared.[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Spanish flamenco dance (1896).[3][7]

Semantic evolution

The syncopated ballroom dance from Argentina became a craze in Britain and America in 1913,[4][7] the year both the noun in this sense and the verb are first recorded.[3][4][5][7] The name was also given to a deep orange colour in 1913.[7] The phrase it takes two to tango was a song title in 1952,[4][7] and since then tango has also served as the code word for the letter T.[5][6]

Timeline

  • 1896 – a Spanish flamenco dance.[3][7]
  • 1913 – the Argentine ballroom dance; verb, to dance it; a deep orange colour.[3][4][5][7]
  • 1952 – it takes two to tango; code word for T.[4][7][5]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A ballroom dance of Latin American origin in 2/4 or 4/4 time, with long pauses and stylized poses.
  2. The music for this dance.
  3. A dealing or interaction marked by a lack of straightforwardness.
  4. A code word for the letter T in radio communication.

Verb

  1. To dance the tango.
  2. To interact or deal with each other.

Word family

  • tangolike

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Tango.” Etymologically, 11 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/tango. Accessed 11 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·