'bangtail' originates from English, formed by combining 'bang' (to cut short, as in bangs of hair) and 'tail' (the hind appendage of an animal).

'bangtail' appears in 19th‑century English usage where 'bang' (used since earlier English to mean cutting straight across) was combined with 'tail' to describe a tail cut short; the compound stabilized in racing and stable vocabulary.

Initially it referred specifically to a tail cut short; over time it came to refer to the animal so altered (a horse with a shortened tail) and figuratively to inexperienced racehorses; it is also used as a verb meaning to cut a tail short.