Taxonomy of meanings for 牙:　　

Additional information about 牙

說文解字: 【牙】，牡齒也。象上下相錯之形。凡牙之屬皆从牙。 【五加切】 【𤘈】，古文牙。

Criteria
• TOOTH
  

  1. Chǐ 齒 refers to the visible front teeth, thus when one smiles one shows one's chǐ 齒, xiàn chǐ 見齒, and only if one were vampire-like would one show any yá 牙. Chǐ 齒 does not typically refer to the teeth as weapons of aggressive action. The teeth by which one judges age are always chǐ 齒, and the teeth with which one commonly chews tend quite as often to be chǐ 齒. The front teeth that get cold when the lips are gone, are chǐ 齒 in classical Chinese, and they are not seen in that common saying as aggressive weapons. The admirable white teeth of a lady are the chǐ 齒, only in the case of vampires yá 牙. We have goǔ yá 狗牙 but mǎ chí 馬齒. One grinds one's chǐ 齒, 切齒, not one's yá 牙. The first teeth of a child are never yá 牙 and regularly chǐ 齒, and similarly for the teeth that an old man loses, when chǐ duò 齒墮 "the teeth fall out". Interestingly, the elephant has chǐ 齒, never yá 牙, presumably because these tusks were taken to be a threat to his own survival, not to man.

  2. Yá 牙 can occasionally generally refer to teeth, even the exquisite teeth of a woman, but the word typically refers to the large side teeth or fangs of an animal with which it bites, and which are seen as a threat. The threatening teeth of an animal, the teeth with which a rat attacks one's home, are yá 牙. Thus one speaks of the zhuǎ yá 爪牙 "the claws and fangs" as metaphors for weapons. Theses are sharp like fangs, and as such they lend themselves to metaphorical use to indicate dented patterns in ornaments.

Word relations
• Assoc: (TOOTH)爪/CLAWS The current word for the claws or fingernails is zhuǎ 爪. 5 Attributions
• Assoc: (TOOTH)齒/TOOTH Chǐ 齒 refers to the visible front teeth, thus when one smiles one shows one's chǐ 齒, xiàn chǐ 見齒, and only if one were vampire-like would one show any yá 牙. Chǐ 齒 does not typically refer to the teeth as weapons of aggressive action. The teeth by which one judges age are always chǐ 齒, and the teeth with which one commonly chews tend quite as often to be chǐ 齒. The front teeth that get cold when the lips are gone, are chǐ 齒 in classical Chinese, and they are not seen in that common saying as aggressive weapons. The admirable white teeth of a lady are the chǐ 齒, only in the case of vampires yá 牙. We have goǔ yá 狗牙 but mǎ chí 馬齒. One grinds one's chǐ 齒, 切齒, not one's yá 牙. The first teeth of a child are never yá 牙 and regularly chǐ 齒, and similarly for the teeth that an old man loses, when chǐ duò 齒墮"the teeth fall out". Interestingly, the elephant has chǐ 齒, never yá 牙, presumably because these tusks were taken to be a threat to his own survival, not to man. 2 Attributions