turtle

WOTD – 10 April 2010    

English

Wikipedia

A Florida box turtle, a land turtle.

A sea turtle.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈtɜːtəl/, X-SAMPA: /"t3:t@l/
• (US) enPR: tûrʹtəl, IPA: /ˈtɝtəl/, X-SAMPA: /"t3`t@l/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(r)təl

Etymology 1

Modification of French tortue (probably under the influence of turtledove). See tortoise for more.

Noun

turtle (plural turtles)

1. Any land or marine reptile of the order Testudines, characterised by a protective shell enclosing its body.
2. (Australia, UK) A sea turtle.
3. (military) An Ancient Roman attack method, where the shields held by the soldiers hide them, not only left, right, front and back, but also from above.
4. (computing) A type of robot having a domed case (and so resembling the reptile), used in education, especially for making line drawings by means of a computer program.
5. (computing) An on-screen cursor that serves the same function as a turtle for drawing.
   • 1997, Brian Harvey, Computer Science Logo Style: Symbolic computing

     Depending on which version of Logo you have, the turtle may look like an actual animal with a head and four legs or — as in Berkeley Logo — it may be represented as a triangle.

6. (printing, historical) The curved plate in which the form is held in a type-revolving cylinder press.

Synonyms

• shelpad
• shield-toad

Derived terms

terms derived from turtle in the above senses

African helmeted turtle Afro-American sideneck turtle Alabama red-bellied turtle alligator turtle, alligator-turtle American turtle Ancient and Honorable Order of Turtles Arakan forest turtle Australian short-necked turtle Austro-American sideneck turtle awkward turtle bastard turtle big-headed turtle black marsh turtle black turtle bean Blanding's turtle bog turtle box turtle, box-turtle chicken turtle, chicken-turtle common snakeneck turtle cooter turtle diamond-backed turtle dragon turtle eastern long-neck turtle Fitzroy River turtle flatback turtle Florida redbelly turtle Fly River turtle golden coin turtle gopher turtle greaved turtle Greenland turtle

green turtle have a turtle's head hawk-billed turtle, hawksbill sea turtle, hawk's-bill turtle, hawksbill turtle horned turtle land turtle leaf turtle leather turtle leatherback turtle leather-turtle leathery turtle loggerhead turtle, logger-headed turtle lyre turtle Madagascan big-headed turtle map turtle marine turtle marsh turtle mata mata turtle, matamata turtle Mary River turtle mock turtle mock turtle soup mud turtle musk turtle New Guinea snakeneck turtle Olive Ridley turtle painted turtle pancake turtle pig-nosed turtle, pig-nose turtle, pignose turtle pitted-shelled turtle

plateless turtle Plymouth redbelly turtle pond turtle purple turtler red-bellied turtle river turtle roofed turtle sea turtle, sea-turtle side-necked turtle silver stater with a turtle snake-eating turtle snake-necked turtle snapping turtle, snapping-turtle soft-shelled turtle, soft-shell turtle, softshell turtle spiny turtle spotted turtle toad-headed turtle twisted-necked turtle tortoise-shell turtle trunk turtle, trunk-turtle turn the turtle turn turtle turning turtles turtle-back, turtleback turtle bean turtleburger turtle-corral turtle cowrie, turtle cowry turtle-crab turtle-crawl turtle-deck

turtledom turtle-egging turtle excluder device turtle-footed turtle-frolic turtle graphics turtle grass, turtle-grass turtle-head, turtlehead turtle hull turtle-insect turtle-kraal turtle neck, turtle-neck, turtleneck turtle peg, turtle-peg turtle-press turtler turtle racing turtles all the way down turtle shell turtle ship turtle soup turtle stone turtle-shell turtle-soup turtle-stone turtlet turtle trade turtle-twine turtling turtly water turtle western swamp turtle wood turtle

Translations

land or marine reptile with a shell

• Abenaki: tolba
• Abkhaz: please add this translation if you can
• Afrikaans: skilpad (af) (tortoise or turtle)
• Akkadian: raqqu, šelappu
• Albanian: breshkë (sq) f (tortoise or turtle)
• Alviri-Vidari:

  Vidari: لوک‌پشت (lovek-pošt)

• Arabic: سُلَحْفَاة (ar) (sulaḥfāa) f, سَلاحِف (salāḥif) pl
• Aragonese: tartuga (an)
• Armenian: կրիա (hy) (kria)
• Aromanian: broascã tsãstoasã (rup) f
• Asturian: tortuga (ast) f
• Avar: щурункъверкъ (av)
• Azeri: tısbağa (az) (tortoise or turtle)
• Basque: dortoka (eu)
• Bau Bidayuh: ponyu
• Belarusian: чарапаха (be) (čarapáxa) f (tortoise or turtle)
• Bengali: কাছিম (bn) (kachim) (tortoise or turtle)
• Breton: baot (br) f, baoted pl, baot douar (land turtle)
• Bulgarian: костенурка (bg) (kostenúrka) f (tortoise or turtle)
• Burmese: လိပ် (my) (leik) (tortoise or turtle)
• Catalan: tortuga (ca) f
• Catawba: káia
• Chamicuro: majpolo
• Chechen: please add this translation if you can
• Cheyenne: ma'ëno
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: (tortoise or turtle) 龜 (cmn), 龟 (cmn) (guī), 烏龜 (cmn), 乌龟 (cmn) (wūguī), 王八 (cmn) (wángba), 鼈 (cmn) (biē) (freshwater turtle), variants: 鱉 (cmn), 鳖 (cmn) and 龞 (cmn))

• Choctaw: luksi
• Cree: ᒥᐢᑭᓈᕁ (cr) (miskinâhk)
• Crow: basáxa
• Czech: želva (cs) f
• Danish: skildpadde (da)
• Darkinjung: kutumung
• Dutch: schildpad (nl) f
• Esperanto: testudo (eo)
• Estonian: kilpkonn (et) (tortoise or turtle)
• Fijian: vonu (fj)
• Finnish: kilpikonna (fi) (tortoise or turtle)
• French: tortue (fr) f (tortoise or turtle)
• Galician: tartaruga (gl) f, sapoconcho (gl) m
• Georgian: ზღვის კუ (ka) (zrvis ku), კუ (ka) (ku)
• German: Schildkröte (de) f (tortoise or turtle)
• Greek: νεροχελώνα (el) (nerochelóna) f, χελώνα (el) (chelóna) f (tortoise or turtle)
• Guaraní: karumbe (gn)
• Gullah: cootuh
• Haitian Creole: tòti
• Hawaiian: honu
• Hebrew: צב (he) (tzav) m (tortoise or turtle)
• Hindi: कछुआ (hi) (kachu'ā) m (tortoise or turtle)
• Hopi: yöngösona
• Hungarian: teknősbéka (hu), teknős (hu)
• Icelandic: skjaldbaka (is)
• Indonesian: penyu (id)
• Irish: turtar (ga) m
• Italian: tartaruga (it) f (tortoise or turtle)
• Japanese: 亀 (ja) (かめ, kame), カメ (ja) (kame) (tortoise or turtle)
• Javanese: bulus (jv)
• Kannada: ಆವೆ (kn) (āve), ಆಮೆ (kn) (āme)
• Kazakh: тасбақа (kk) (tasbaqa) (tortoise or turtle)

• Khmer: អណ្ដើក (km) (ɑndaək)
• Korean: 거북 (ko) (geobuk), 바다거북 (ko) (padageobuk) (tortoise or turtle)
• Kyrgyz: ташбака (ky) (tašbaka) (tortoise or turtle)
• Lakota: khéya
• Lao: ເຕົ່າ (lo) (tao) (tortoise or turtle)
• Latgalian: brūnisrupucs m
• Latin: testudo (la) f
• Latvian: bruņurupucis (lv) m (tortoise or turtle)
• Lenape: tahkox
• Lithuanian: vėžlys (lt) m (tortoise or turtle)
• Lojban: cakyrespa (jbo)
• Luxembourgish: Deckelsmouk (lb) f, Schildkröt (lb) f
• Macedonian: желка (mk) (žélka) f (tortoise or turtle)
• Malay: tuntung (ms) (river turtle), labi-labi (ms) (river turtle), penyu (ms)
• Malecite-Passamaquoddy: cihkonaqc, mikcikc
• Maori: honu (mi)
• Mi'kmaq: migjigj
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Nahuatl: ayotl (nah)
• Navajo: chʼééh digháhii, tsisteeł
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: skilpadde (no) m and f

  Nynorsk: skjelpadde (nn) f

• Occitan: tartuga (oc) f
• Ossetian: please add this translation if you can
• Pali: kacchapa (pi) m
• Penobscot: dolba
• Persian: لاک‌پشت (fa) (lâk-pošt) (tortoise or turtle)
• Polish: żółw (pl) m (tortoise or turtle)
• Portuguese: tartaruga (pt) f (tortoise or turtle)
• Rapa Nui: honu
• Romanian: broască țestoasă (ro) f
• Russian: черепаха (ru) (čerepáxa) f (tortoise or turtle)
• Scottish Gaelic: crùban-coille (gd) m, sligeanach (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: корњача (sh) f (tortoise or turtle)

  Roman: kornjača (sh) f (tortoise or turtle)

• Sinhalese: please add this translation if you can
• Slovak: korytnačka (sk) f (tortoise or turtle)
• Slovene: želva (sl) f (tortoise or turtle)
• Spanish: tortuga (es) f (tortoise or turtle), peta (es) f (Bolivia)
• Swahili: kobe (sw)
• Swedish: sköldpadda (sv)
• Tagalog: pagongpawikan
• Tajik: сангпушт (tg) (sangpušt) (tortoise or turtle)
• Tamil: ஆமை (ta) (āmai)
• Telugu: తాబేలు (te) (tābēlu) (tortoise or turtle)
• Thai: เต่า (th) (tàò) (tortoise or turtle)
• Tswana: khudu (tn)
• Turkish: kaplumbağa (tr), tosbağa (tr)
• Turkmen: pyşbaga (tk) (tortoise or turtle)
• Tuvan: языты-мелегей (jazyty-melegej), мелегей (melegej)
• Ukrainian: черепаха (uk) (čerepáxa) f (tortoise or turtle)
• Uzbek: musicha (uz), toshbaqa (uz) (tortoise or turtle)
• Vietnamese: rùa (vi) (tortoise or turtle)
• Volapük: tortug (vo) (male or female), hitortug (vo) (male), jitortug (vo) (female), tortugül (vo), länatortug (vo) (male or female offspring, young), melatortug (vo)
• Welsh: crwban (cy) m
• West Frisian: skylpod (fy)
• Wolof: mbonnat mi (wo)
• Yiddish: טשערעפּאַכע (yi) (tsherepakhe) f (tortoise or turtle)

sea turtle

• Breton: baot vor
• Darkinjung: kutumung
• Esperanto: martestudo (eo)
• Finnish: kilpikonna (fi), merikilpikonna (fi)
• Japanese: 海亀 (ja) (うみがめ, umigame)
• Macedonian: морска желка (mk) (mórska žélka) f
• Malay: penyu (ms)
• Navajo: tééh tsisteeł

• Norwegian: skilpadde (no) m and f
• Polish: żółw wodny (pl) m
• Russian: черепаха (ru) (čerepáxa) f, морская черепаха (ru) (morskája čerepáxa) f
• Swahili: kasa (sw)
• Swedish: havssköldpadda (sv) c
• Volapük: melatortug (vo)
• Welsh: môr-grwban (cy) m

Roman attack method

• Finnish: kilpikonnamuodostelma (fi)
• Macedonian: желка (mk) (žélka) f

• Russian: черепаха (ru) (čerepáxa) f

computing: type of robot

• Finnish: piirustusrobotti (fi)

computing: drawing cursor

• Finnish: kursori (fi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Interlingua: tortuca (1, 2)

Verb

turtle (third-person singular simple present turtles, present participle turtling, simple past and past participle turtled)

1. To flip over onto the back or top; to turn upside down.
   • 1919, Iowa Highway Commission, Service Bulletin, Issues 15-32‎, page 48

     Were speeding when car turtled […] Auto crashed into curb and turtled.

2. To turn and swim upside down.
   • 2009, Amy Waeschle, Chasing Waves: A Surfer's Tale of Obsessive Wandering‎, page 149

     I turtled my board beneath it, flipped upright, and started paddling again.

3. To hunt turtles, especially in the water.
   • 1973, Bernard Nietschmann, Between Land and Water: The Subsistence Ecology of the Miskito Indians, page 153

     Of these, 80 turtled (65%), 26 hunted and turtled (20%), and 18 hunted (15%).

4. (video games) To build up a large defense force and strike only punctually, rather than going for an offensive strategy.

Translations

to flip over onto the back or top; to turn upside down

• Finnish: kääntyä ympäri (fi)
• French: capoter (fr), se renverser (fr), faire un tonneau (fr)

• Italian: ribaltare (it)
• Spanish: volcar (es), dar una vuelta de campana (es)

to turn and swim upside down

• Finnish: kääntää ympäri (fi)

to hunt turtles

• Finnish: metsästää (fi) kilpikonnia (fi)

See also

• chelonian
• hatchling (turtle young)
• terrapin
• tortoise
• Turtle on Wikimedia Commons. Wikimedia Commons

Etymology 2

Old English turtla, ultimately from Latin turtur (“turtledove”), of imitative origin.

Noun

turtle (plural turtles)

1. (now rare, archaic) A turtle dove.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.8:

     The same he tooke, and with a riband new, / In which his Ladies colours were, did bind / About the turtles neck […] .

Derived terms

terms derived from turtle in the above senses

turtle-bird turtle dove, turtle-dove, turtledove

turtleish, turtlish turtleise, turtlise, turtleize, turtlize

Translations

turtle dove — see turtle dove