tortoise

English

A tortoise

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English tortuse, tortuce, tortuge, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Medieval Latin tortuca, of uncertain origin. May be from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Late Latin tartarūcha, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Late Latin tartarūchus, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Ancient Greek ταρταροῦχος (tartaroûkhos, “holder of Tartaros, Tartarus, the land of the dead in ancient stories”), because it used to be thought that tortoises and turtles came from the underworld and they were commonly paired with such infernal beasts; or from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin tortus (“twisted”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɔːɹ.təs/
• IPA^(key): /ˈtɔː.təs/
  • IPA^(key): /ˈtɔːˌtɔɪs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)təs

Noun

tortoise (plural tortoises)

1. Any of various land-dwelling reptiles, of family Testudinidae, whose body is enclosed in a shell (carapace plus plastron). The animal can withdraw its head and four legs partially into the shell, providing some protection from predators.

   Synonym: (obsolete) shellpad

Usage notes

Differences exist in usage of the common terms turtle, tortoise, and terrapin, depending on the variety of English being used. In American usage, turtle is often a general term; tortoise is used only in reference to terrestrial turtles or, more narrowly, only those members of Testudinidae, the family of modern land tortoises; and terrapin may refer to turtles that are small and live in fresh and brackish water.

British usage, by contrast, tends not to use turtle as a generic term for all members of the order, and also applies the term tortoises broadly to all land-dwelling members of the order Testudines, regardless of whether they are actually members of the family Testudinidae.

Land tortoises are not native to Australia, yet traditionally freshwater turtles have been called tortoises in Australia.

Derived terms

• tortoise shell, tortoise-shell, pancake tortoise

Translations

land-dwelling reptile

• Afrikaans: (tortoise or turtle) skilpad
• Akkadian: 𒃻𒅮𒈾 (šeleppû)
• Albanian: (tortoise or turtle) breshkë (sq) f
• Arabic: (tortoise or turtle) سُلَحْفَاة (ar) f (sulaḥfāh)

  Egyptian Arabic: سحلفة f (suḥlefa)

• Aramaic: סלופּי‎ (salūpā)
• Armenian: կրիա (hy) (kria)
• Aromanian: broascã f, broascã tsãstoasã f
• Asturian: tortuga (ast) f
• Atayal: ksipa
• Azerbaijani: (tortoise or turtle) tısbağa (az)
• Bashkir: ташбаҡа (taşbaqa), гөбөргәйел (göbörgəyel)
• Bau Bidayuh: diya
• Belarusian: (tortoise or turtle) чарапа́ха f (čarapáxa)
• Bengali: (tortoise or turtle) কাছিম (kachim)
• Breton: baot (br) f, baoted pl, baot douar
• Bulgarian: (tortoise or turtle) костену́рка (bg) f (kostenúrka)
• Burmese: (tortoise or turtle) လိပ် (my) (lip)
• Catalan: tortuga (ca) f
• Central Dusun: buu
• Central Melanau: kejaa
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: (tortoise or turtle) 龜／龟 (zh), 龟 (zh) (guī), 烏龜／乌龟 (zh) (wūguī), 乌龟 (zh) (wūguī), 草龜／草龟 (cǎoguī), 草龟 (cǎoguī)

• Cornish: kronek ervys m, melhwioges f, kroban m
• Czech: želva (cs)
• Danish: skildpadde (da) c
• Dutch: schildpad (nl) f
• Esperanto: testudo (eo)
• Estonian: (tortoise or turtle) kilpkonn
• Finnish: (tortoise or turtle) kilpikonna (fi)
• French: (tortoise or turtle) tortue (fr) f

  Old French: wecle f

• Galician: tartaruga (gl) f, sapoconcho m
• Georgian: კუ (ka) (ḳu)
• German: (tortoise or turtle) Schildkröte (de) f, Landschildkröte f
• Greek: (tortoise or turtle) χελώνα (el) f (chelóna)

  Ancient: (tortoise or turtle) κλεμμύς f (klemmús), χελώνη f (khelṓnē)

• Hebrew: (tortoise or turtle) צָב (he) m (tzav), שַׁלְחוּפָה (šalḥūp̄ā)
• Hindi: कछुआ (hi) m (kachuā)
• Hungarian: teknősbéka (hu), teknős (hu)
• Icelandic: landskjaldbaka f, skjaldbaka (is) f (tortoise or turtle)
• Ido: tortugo (io)
• Igbo: mbeku
• Indonesian: kura-kura (id), penyu (id)
• Interlingue:
• Irish: toirtís f
• Isthmus Zapotec: bigu
• Italian: (tortoise or turtle) tartaruga (it) f, testuggine (it) f
• Japanese: (tortoise or turtle) 亀 (ja) (かめ, kame), カメ (ja) (kame), 陸亀 (ja) (りくがめ, rikugame)
• Kannada: ಆಮೆ (kn) (āme), ಕೂರ್ಮ (kn) (kūrma)
• Kazakh: (tortoise or turtle) тасбақа (kk) (tasbaqa)
• Khmer: អណ្ដើក (km) (ʼɑndaək) (tortoise or turtle)
• Kimaragang: landang
• Korean: (tortoise or turtle) 거북 (ko) (geobuk), 거북이 (ko) (geobugi)
• Kyrgyz: (tortoise or turtle) ташбака (ky) (taşbaka)
• Lao: (tortoise or turtle) ເຕົ່າ (lo) (tao)
• Latin: (tortoise or turtle) testūdō (la) m
• Latvian: (tortoise or turtle) bruņurupucis (lv) m
• Lithuanian: (tortoise or turtle) vėžlys (lt) m
• Luxembourgish: Landdeckelsmouk f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Macedonian: (tortoise or turtle) желка f (želka)
• Malay: kura-kura
• Malayalam: ആമ (ml) (āma)
• Maltese: fekruna f, fkieren pl
• Manx: shligganagh m
• Maori: honuwhenua
• Marathi: कासव m (kāsav)
• Mi'kmaq: migjigj anim
• Mongolian: яст мэлхий (jast melxii) (tortoise or turtle)
• Nahuatl: āyotl
• Navajo: chʼééh digháhii
• Norman: tortue f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: skilpadde (no) m or f, landskilpadde m or f

  Nynorsk: skjelpadde f, landskjelpadde f

• Old English: (tortoise or turtle) byrdling m, landbyrdling m
• Pali: kacchapa m
• Pashto: کيشپ (ps) m (kišáp) (tortoise or turtle)
• Persian: (tortoise or turtle) لاک‌پشت (fa) (lâk-pošt), باخه (fa) (bâxe)
• Polish: (tortoise or turtle) żółw (pl) m anim, żółw lądowy (pl) m anim
• Portuguese: (tortoise or turtle) tartaruga (pt) f, jabuti (pt) m, cágado (pt)
• Romanian: țestoasă f, broască țestoasă f
• Russian: (tortoise or turtle) черепа́ха (ru) f (čerepáxa)
• Sanskrit: कच्छप (sa) m (kacchapa), कमठ (sa) m (kamaṭha)
• Scottish Gaelic: crùban-coille m, sligeanach m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: (tortoise or turtle) корњача f

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

• Slovak: (tortoise or turtle) korytnačka (sk) f
• Slovene: (tortoise or turtle) želva (sl) f, kopenska želva f
• Somali: diindiin
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: nopawa f (tortoise or turtle), žołw f (tortoise or turtle)

• Spanish: (tortoise or turtle) tortuga (es) f, tortuga terrestre f, morrocoy m (Venezuela)
• Swahili: kobe (sw)
• Swedish: sköldpadda (sv)
• Tagal Murut: buu, babag
• Tagalog: pagong
• Tajik: (tortoise or turtle) сангпушт (tg) (sangpušt)
• Tamil: ஓடன் (ta) (ōṭaṉ), ஆமை (ta) (āmai)
• Tarantino: celóne
• Telugu: (tortoise or turtle) తాబేలు (te) (tābēlu)
• Thai: (tortoise or turtle) เต่า (th) (dtào)
• Tibetan: རུས་སྦལ (rus sbal) (tortoise or turtle)
• Tswana: khudu class 9/10
• Turkish: kaplumbağa (tr), tosbağa (tr)
• Turkmen: (tortoise or turtle) pyşbaga
• Ukrainian: (tortoise or turtle) черепа́ха f (čerepáxa)
• Urdu: کچھوا m (kachuvā) (tortoise or turtle)
• Uyghur: تاشپاقا (tashpaqa)

  Cyrillic: ташпақа (tashpaqa)

• Uzbek: (tortoise or turtle) toshbaqa (uz)
• Vietnamese: (tortoise or turtle) rùa (vi)
• Volapük: tortug
• Welsh: (tortoise or turtle) crwban m
• West Coast Bajau: kekuro
• West Frisian: skyldpod
• Yiddish: שילדקרויט (shildkroyt), טשערעפּאַכע f (tsherepakhe)
• Zazaki: kesa

See also

• terrapin
• turtle

Further reading

• tortoise on Wikipedia.Wikipedia