twang / twang/ • n. a strong ringing sound such as that made by the plucked string of a musical instrument or a released bowstring. ∎  a nasal or other distinctive manner of pronunciation or intonation characteristic of the speech of an individual, area, or country: an American twang.• v. make or cause to make such a sound: [intr.] a spring twanged beneath him. ∎  [tr.] play (an instrument) in such a way as to produce such sounds: some old men were twanging banjos. ∎  [tr.] utter (something) with a nasal twang: the announcer was twanging out all the details.DERIVATIVES: twang·y adj.

TWANG.
1. Also nasal twang. A NASAL way of speaking attributed to English Puritans in the 16/17c: ‘To make incoherent Stuff (seasoned with Twang and Tautology) pass for high Rhetorick’ ( Robert South, Sermons, 1661).

2. A distinctive ACCENT or voice quality: ‘You talk very good English, but you have a mighty Twang of the foreigner’ ( Farquhar, The Beaux' Stratagem, 1707). See CHEE-CHEE ENGLISH.

twang sound produced by plucking string of bow, harp, etc. XVI; vocal sound modified by passage through the nose XVII; individual or local pronunciation. of imit. orig.