tusk

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

tusk

Wikipedia

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

Translations

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

Noun

tusk m animal

1. dog

Descendants

• Tusk

Further reading

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

Descendants

• North Frisian: tos, tus
• Saterland Frisian: Tusk, Tüsk
• 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