tusk

See also: Tusk

English

Walruses with tusks.

Men with elephant tusks.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtʌsk/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌsk

Etymology 1

From Middle English tusk (also tux, tusch), from Old English tūx, tūsc (“canine tooth, tusk, molar”), from Proto-West Germanic *tų̄sk, *tunsk, from Proto-Germanic *tunþskaz (“canine tooth”), extended form of *tanþs (“tooth”), from 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”). Doublet of tush. 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, and which continue to grow throughout the animal's life.

   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.

Derived terms

• milk tusk
• tusked
• tuskless
• tusklike

 

Translations

pointed tooth

• Arabic: نَاب (ar) m (nāb)

  Egyptian Arabic: ناب m (nab)

• Armenian: ժանիք (hy) (žanikʻ)
• Azerbaijani: xillə
• Belarusian: бі́вень m (bívjenʹ)
• Bengali: গজদন্ত (bn) (gojodonto)
• Bulgarian: би́вник (bg) 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) (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, tusko, pikdento
• Estonian: kihv
• Finnish: syöksyhammas (fi)
• French: défense (fr) f (elephant, walrus); dague (fr) f (wild boar)
• Galician: cabeiro (gl) 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), 象牙 (ja) (ぞうげ, zōge) (elephant's)
• 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)
• Macedonian: бивна f (bivna)
• Malay: (elephant's) gading (ms), taring (ms) (boar's)
• Malayalam: (elephant's) കൊമ്പ് (ml) (kompŭ), തേറ്റ (ml) (tēṟṟa) (boar's)
• Maori: reiputa
• Mongolian: соёо (mn) (sojoo)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: støttann m or f, støyttann m or f

  Nynorsk: støyttann f

• Old English: tūsc m
• 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

• Sicilian: denti (scn) m pl, prisa f, canini m pl
• 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
• Tamil: தந்தம் (ta) (tantam), கொம்பு (ta) (kompu)
• Telugu: దంతము (te) (dantamu)
• Thai: งา (th) (ngaa), ทนต์ (th) (ton)
• Tibetan: མཆེ་བ (mche ba)
• Tocharian B: ānkär
• Ukrainian: би́вень (uk) m (bývenʹ)
• Vietnamese: ngà (vi)
• Welsh: ysgithr m
• West Frisian: slachttosk
• Yoruba: eyín erin (elephant's)

sharp point

• 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 (Brosme brosme).

Kashubian

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtusk/
• Rhymes: -usk
• Syllabification: tusk

Noun

tusk m animal

1. dog

Further reading

• Witold Taszycki (2000-2001) Onomastica‎^[1], volume 45, Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich
• Zdzisława Stiebera, editor (1964), Atlas językowy kaszubszczyzny i dialektów sąsiednich‎^[2], Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich

Ludian

Etymology

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

Noun

tusk

1. pain

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.

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
accusative	tusk	tuskar, tuska
genitive	tuskes	tuska
dative	tuske	tuskum, tuskem

Descendants

• North Frisian: tos, tus
• Saterland Frisian: Tusk, Tüsk (Skäddel)
• West Frisian: tosk

Veps

Etymology

Borrowed from Old East Slavic тъска (tŭska) (compare Russian тоска́ (toská, “melancholy”)).

Noun

tusk

1. depression, melancholy, grief, suffering

Declension

Inflection of tusk (inflection type 6/kuva)
nominative sing.	tusk
genitive sing.	tuskan
partitive sing.	tuskad
partitive plur.	—
	singular	plural
nominative	tusk	—
accusative	tuskan	—
genitive	tuskan	—
partitive	tuskad	—
essive-instructive	tuskan	—
translative	tuskaks	—
inessive	tuskas	—
elative	tuskaspäi	—
illative	tuskaha	—
adessive	tuskal	—
ablative	tuskalpäi	—
allative	tuskale	—
abessive	tuskata	—
comitative	tuskanke	—
prolative	tuskadme	—
approximative I	tuskanno	—
approximative II	tuskannoks	—
egressive	tuskannopäi	—
terminative I	tuskahasai	—
terminative II	tuskalesai	—
terminative III	tuskassai	—
additive I	tuskahapäi	—
additive II	tuskalepäi	—