鋭い牙が meaning in human nature


> 落ち着いて見えても、 **鋭い牙が** 内包されていることに変わりはない。

It was a sentence in a light novel ( **ようこそ実力至上主義の教室へ** ) that I've been
reading, and I have an impression that it should be some kind of idiomatic
words.

> **鋭い** (from **Jisho.org** ) : perceptive; keen; quick (mind); astute;
> shrewd; discerning.

I was wondering what the true meaning of **鋭い牙が** ( **sharp fang** ) in human
character.

Can it be translated as **sense of perception**?

Sharp also has a meaning of fierce, so I was thinking an option like **fierce
personality**.

Thank you in advance for your kind guidance.




For reference to other readers, [here's the Jisho.org entry for
鋭い](https://jisho.org/search/%E9%8B%AD%E3%81%84).

I think you're overthinking this.

As seen in the entry, the topmost sense and core meaning of 鋭【するど】い is simply
"sharp", not "perceptive". It _can_ be used to mean "perceptive", but that's
the same as saying that "someone is **sharp** " in English can mean that
they're quick on the uptake, they're smart, they're shrewd.

In the specific case of your sample text, 鋭【するど】い牙【きば】 can really only mean
"sharp fangs". And, like in English, when we refer to someone having "sharp
fangs", we don't (usually) mean that they literally have sharp fangs --
instead, this expression is used figuratively to mean that someone can be
vicious.

> 「落ち着いて見えても、 **鋭い牙** が内包されていることに変わりはない。」  
>  "Even though they look calm, that doesn't change the fact that they've got
> **sharp fangs**."  
>  → Even though they look calm, they **can be vicious**.




For reference to other readers, [here's the Jisho.org entry for
鋭い](https://jisho.org/search/%E9%8B%AD%E3%81%84).

I think you're overthinking this.

As seen in the entry, the topmost sense and core meaning of 鋭【するど】い is simply
"sharp", not "perceptive". It _can_ be used to mean "perceptive", but that's
the same as saying that "someone is **sharp** " in English can mean that
they're quick on the uptake, they're smart, they're shrewd.

In the specific case of your sample text, 鋭【するど】い牙【きば】 can really only mean
"sharp fangs". And, like in English, when we refer to someone having "sharp
fangs", we don't (usually) mean that they literally have sharp fangs --
instead, this expression is used figuratively to mean that someone can be
vicious.

> 「落ち着いて見えても、 **鋭い牙** が内包されていることに変わりはない。」  
>  "Even though they look calm, that doesn't change the fact that they've got
> **sharp fangs**."  
>  → Even though they look calm, they **can be vicious**.

