tangente

bribe; tangent (geometry)

noun tahn-JEN-teh Less Common

Origin: Latin tangens, tangentis (touching), present participle of tangere (to touch)

Usage Note

Tangente is known in Italy above all from the Tangentopoli ('Bribesville') corruption scandal of the 1990s, so pagare una tangente (to pay a bribe) carries strong political resonance. The same word is the mathematical tangent of an angle. The plural le tangenti is regular. In a motorway context tangenziale (f) means a ring road or bypass.

Examples

"I politici erano accusati di ricevere tangenti."

Natural Translation

The politicians were accused of receiving bribes.

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