tartar

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) enPR: tärʹ-tər, IPA^(key): /ˈtɑɹ.tɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: tärʹ-tər, IPA^(key): /ˈtɑː.tə/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)tə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: tar‧tar
• Homophone: tarter

Etymology 1

From Old French tartre, from Medieval Latin tartarum, from Byzantine Greek τάρταρον (tártaron), said to be from Arabic دُرْدِيّ (durdiyy), though it is already found in Pelagonius’s Ars veterinaria 46 in the adjective tartarālis, if the reading is correct.

Noun

tartar (countable and uncountable, plural tartars)

1. A red compound deposited during wine making; mostly potassium hydrogen tartrate — a source of cream of tartar.
2. A hard yellow deposit on the teeth, formed from dental plaque.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From figurative use of Tartar.

Noun

tartar (plural tartars)

1. (dated) A fearsome or angrily violent person.
   • 1929, Dashiell Hammett, chapter 3, in The Dain Curse‎, New York: Vintage, published 1972, page 28:

     Mrs. Begg said she liked Mrs. Dain, who was a sensible woman and a first-rate housewife, but that Gabrielle was a tartar.

Derived terms

• tartar sauce

Finnish

Etymology

From French tartare.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɑrtɑr/,
• Rhymes: -ɑrtɑr
• Syllabification^(key): tar‧tar

Adjective

tartar (not comparable)

1. tartare (chopped fine and served raw)

   tartar-pihvi

   steak tartare

Declension

Not inflected; used only as modifier.

Derived terms

Noun

tartar

1. A dish prepared with finely chopped, raw ingredients; in English the names of these dishes are formed with the adjective "tartare".

   Alkupalaksi tarjottiin lohitartaria.

   A salmon tartare was served as appetizer.

Declension

Anagrams

• tarrat

Italian

Noun

tartar f (invariable)

1. Alternative form of tartare

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French Tartare.

Adjective

tartar m (feminine singular tartare, masculine plural tartars, feminine plural tartares)

1. Tartar (of or relating to any of several Turkic groups)

Descendants

• French: tartare

References

• tartare on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)

Old Irish

Verb

·tartar

1. passive singular present subjunctive perfective prototonic of do·beir

Mutation

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Old Church Slavonic тарътаръ (tarŭtarŭ), from Ancient Greek Τάρταρος (Tártaros). Doublet of Tartarus.

Noun

tartar n (plural tartaruri)

1. hell

Declension

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from French (bifteck) tartare.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /taɾˈtaɾ/
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: tar‧tar

Noun

tartar m (plural tartares)

1. tartar

Further reading

• “tartar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014