tusk

See also: Tusk

English

Walruses with tusks.
Men with elephant tusks.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈtʌsk/
  • (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.[1]
  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.

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

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

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

Descendants

  • English: tusk
  • Scots: tusk

References

Old Frisian

Alternative forms

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

  • 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

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 —
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