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, tūsċ (“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)

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

Translations

pointed tooth

Arabic: نَاب‎ (ar) m (nāb)
Egyptian Arabic: ناب‎ m (nab)
Armenian: ժանիք (hy) (žanikʿ)
Azerbaijani: xillə
Belarusian: бі́вень m (bívjenʹ)
Bengali: গজদন্ত (bn) (gôjôdôntô)
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
Finnish: syöksyhammas (fi)
French: défense (fr) f (elephant, walrus); dague (fr) f (wild boar)
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)
Macedonian: бивна f (bivna)
Malay: (elephant's) gading (ms), taring (ms) (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
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 (ton)
Tibetan: མཆེ་བ (mche ba)
Tocharian B: ānkär
Ukrainian: би́вень (uk) m (bývenʹ)
Vietnamese: ngà (vi)
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)

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

Related terms

tusked
tusker
tusklike
tusky
tusk tenon

References

Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “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)

A fish, the torsk (Brosme brosme).

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, G. & C. Merriam, 1913)

Kashubian

Noun

tusk m

dog

Descendants

Tusk

Ludian

Etymology

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

Noun

tusk

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)

A tusk (protruding long tooth)
Any long and sharp tooth.
(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

tooth

Inflection

Declension of tusk (masculine a-stem)

case	singular	plural
nominative	tusk	tuskar, tuska
accusative	tusk	tuskar, tuska
genitive	tuskes	tuska
dative	tuske	tuskum, tuskem

Descendants

West Frisian: tosk

Veps

Etymology

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

Noun

tusk

boredom