fangle

fan·gle
F4A1N1G2L1E1
/ˈfæŋ.ɡəl/[ˈfæŋ.ɡl̩]/ˈfeɪ̯ŋ.ɡəl/[ˈfeɪ̯ŋ.ɡl̩]

verb

To fashion, manufacture, invent, or create.

OriginMiddle English fangelen ← Old English *fangol, *fangel →
Scrabble 10
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Meanings

fangle1

verbfangle (third-person singular simple present fangles, present participle fangling, simple past and past participle fangled)

present singular third person fangles · participle present fangling · participle past fangled · past fangled

  1. dialectalobsoleteTo fashion, manufacture, invent, or create.

    […]not hereby to control and new fangle the Scripture, God forbid, but to mark how corruption and apostasy crept in by degrees, and to gather up wherever we find the remaining sparks of original truth,[…]

    1641, John Milton, Of Prelatical Episcopacy
    1 more example

    Jonathan Swift (1726), Gulliver's Travels, 1st edition: “But I have since found that the sea Yahoos are apt, like the land ones, to become new-fangled in their words, which the latter change every year; insomuch, as I remember upon each return to my own country their old dialect was so altered, that I could hardly understand the new.”

  2. dialectalobsoleteTo trim showily; entangle; hang about.
  3. dialectalobsoleteTo waste time; trifle.

fangle2

nounfangle (plural fangles)

plural fangles

  1. obsoleteA prop; a taking up; a new thing.
  2. Something newly fashioned; a novelty, a new fancy.
  3. A foolish innovation; a gewgaw; a trifling ornament.
  4. A conceit; whim.

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
bric-a-braccapricciofancyfreakinventtchotchketrangamtrinketvagarywhim

Origin

fangle · verb

  1. Old English*fangol, *fangel“inclined to take”
  2. Middle Englishfangelen
  3. Englishfangle

From Middle English fangelen (verb), from fangel (“inclined to take”, adjective), from Old English *fangol, *fangel (“inclined to take”), from fōn (“to take, seize”). Compare Old English andfangol (“undertaker, contractor”), Old English underfangelnes (“undertaking, hospitality”), Middle English fangen (“to take, seize, catch”), German fangen (“to catch”). More at fang.

More words from Middle English, Old English

Full word history & related roots →

fangle · noun

Back-formation from newfangled (adjective) as if new + fangle (noun). See newfangle.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with fangle

angletrianglebangledangletanglestranglemanglewranglespangleuntanglejanglemangalmangelranglewanglebranglequinquangletwangle
All rhymes →

Anagrams

flange
Cite this entry
APA

fangle. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fangle

MLA

“fangle.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fangle. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “fangle,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fangle.

Source: fangle on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.