tusk

See also: Tusk

English

Walruses with tusks.

Men with elephant tusks.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtʌsk/
• Rhymes: -ʌsk

Etymology 1

From Middle English tusk (also tux, tusch), from Old English tūx, tūsc (“grinder, canine tooth, tusk”), from Proto-Germanic *tunþskaz (“tooth”), extended form of (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Germanic *tanþs (“tooth”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Indo-European *h₃dónts (“tooth”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Tusk (“tooth”), West Frisian tosk (“tooth”), Icelandic toskur (“a tusk, tooth”) (whence the Old Norse and Icelandic Ratatoskr and Ratatoskur respectively), Gothic 𐍄𐌿𐌽𐌸𐌿𐍃 (tunþus, “tooth”) and *𐍄𐌿𐌽𐌳𐌹 (*tundi, “thorn, tooth”). More at tooth.

Noun

tusk (plural tusks)

1. One of a pair of elongated pointed teeth that extend outside the mouth of an animal such as walrus, elephant or wild boar.

   Until the CITES sales ban, elephant tusks were the 'backbone' of the legal ivory trade.

2. A small projection on a (tusk) tenon.
3. A tusk shell.
4. (carpentry) A projecting member like a tenon, and serving the same or a similar purpose, but composed of several steps, or offsets, called teeth.
5. A sharp point.
6. The share of a plough.

Translations

pointed tooth

• Arabic: نَاب (ar) m (nāb)

  Egyptian Arabic: ناب m (nab)

• Armenian: ժանիք (hy) (žanikʻ)
• Belarusian: бі́вень m (bívjenʹ)
• Bengali: গজদন্ত (bn) (gojodonto)
• Bulgarian: би́вник m (bívnik), би́вен m (bíven)
• Burmese: စွယ် (my) (cwai), ဆင်စွယ် (my) (hcangcwai)
• Catalan: ullal (ca) m
• Chichewa: mnyanga (of an elephant)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 長牙／长牙 (zh), 长牙 (zh) (chángyá), 牙 (zh) (yá)

• Czech: kel (cs) m
• Danish: stødtand (da) c
• Dupaningan Agta: paseng
• Dutch: slagtand (nl) m, stoottand (nl) m
• Egyptian: (jbḥ)
• Esperanto: dentego
• Finnish: syöksyhammas (fi)
• French: dent saillante f, défense (fr) f
• Galician: cabeiro m, cairo (gl) m, queiro m, dentequeiro m
• German: Stoßzahn (de) m (elephant, walrus); Hauer (de) m (wild boar)
• Greek: χαυλιόδοντας (el) m (chavliódontas)

  Ancient: στόρθυγξ m or f (stórthunx)

• Hebrew: חָט (he) m (khat), חטים (khatím)
• Hindi: खाँग (hi) m (khāṅg), गजदंत (hi) m (gajdant) (elephant's)
• Hungarian: agyar (hu)
• Italian: zanna (it) f
• Japanese: 牙 (ja) (きば, kiba)
• Khmer: ខ្នាយ (km) (khnaay), ទន្ត (km) (tŏən), ទាឋា (km) (tiəthaa) (canine), ភ្លុក (km) (phluk)
• Korean: 엄니 (eomni), 송곳니 (ko) (songgonni)
• Lao: ງາ (ngā), ແງ (ngǣ), ທັນຕາ (than tā), ໜາຍ (nāi) (of a she-elephant)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Macedonian: бивна f (bivna)
• Malay: (elephant's) gading
• Maori: reiputa
• Mongolian: соёо (mn) (sojoo)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: støttann m or f, støyttann m or f

  Nynorsk: støyttann f

• Persian: یشک (fa) (yašk)
• Polish: cios (pl) m, kieł (pl) m (colloquial)
• Portuguese: presa (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਡੰਦ (ḍand)
• Romanian: colț (ro) m, fildeș (ro) m
• Russian: би́вень (ru) m (bívenʹ) (elephant's), клык m (walrus', boar's)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: кљо̑ва f

  Roman: kljȏva (sh) f

• Slovak: kel m
• Slovene: okel (sl) m
• Spanish: colmillo (es) m
• Swahili: pembe (sw) sg (elephant's), upamba pl (boar's)
• Swedish: bete (sv) c
• Tagalog: salimao, pangil
• Telugu: దంతము (te) (dantamu)
• Thai: งา (th) (ngaa), ทนต์ (ton)
• Tibetan: མཆེ་བ (mche ba)
• Ukrainian: би́вень (uk) m (bývenʹ)
• Vietnamese: ngà (vi)
• West Frisian: slachttosk
• Yoruba: please add this translation if you can

sharp point

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Ukrainian: вістря f (vistrja)

Verb

tusk (third-person singular simple present tusks, present participle tusking, simple past and past participle tusked)

1. To dig up using a tusk, as boars do.
2. To gore with the tusks.
3. (obsolete) To bare or gnash the teeth.

Related terms

• tusked
• tusker
• tusklike
• tusky
• tusk tenon

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “tusk”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
• Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

tusk (plural tusks)

1. A fish, the torsk ().

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “tusk”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

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Ludian

Etymology

Related to Finnish tuska. Ultimately from Russian тоска́ (toská, “melancholy”).

Noun

tusk

1. pain

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Middle English

Alternative forms

• tux, tuxe, tosk, tuske, twuxe

Etymology

From Old English tūx, from earlier tūsc, from Proto-Germanic *tunþskaz. Compare tusshe.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tusk/, /tuks/

Noun

tusk (plural tuskes)

1. A tusk (protruding long tooth)
2. Any long and sharp tooth.
3. (rare) The end of a spear.

Derived terms

• tusky
• tuskyd

Descendants

• English: tusk
• Scots: tusk

References

• “tusk (n.(1))”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-07-22.

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Old Frisian

Alternative forms

• tosk

Etymology

Cognate with Old English tūsc.

Noun

tusk m

1. tooth

Inflection

Declension of tusk (masculine a-stem)
	singular	plural
nominative	tusk	tuskar, tuska
genitive	tuskes	tuska
dative	tuske	tuskum, tuskem
accusative	tusk	tuskar, tuska

Descendants

• West Frisian: tosk

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Veps

Etymology

Related to Finnish tuska. Ultimately from Russian тоска́ (toská, “melancholy”).

Noun

tusk

1. boredom