How to pronounce tangent
American English pronunciation
TAN-jent
- IPA
- /ˈtændʒənt/
- Syllables
- TAN · jent (2 syllables, stress on the 1st)
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What tangent means
Most people know tangent in its everyday sense. Here's its other meaning.
A line that touches a curve at just one point
In a sentence: She drew a tangent that just kissed the edge of the circle and kept going.
Where it comes from: It comes from the Latin tangens, meaning touching, from tangere, to touch. Mathematicians called it a touching line, and the off-topic meaning grew from it later.
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