Etymology

tusk

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Today it means: One of a pair of elongated pointed teeth (either cuspids or incisors) 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. Full definition →

Middle English tusk ← Old English tūx ← Proto-West Germanic *tunsk
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tusk · noun, verb1

  1. Proto-Germanic*tunþskaz
  2. Proto-West Germanic*tunsk
  3. Old Englishtūsc
  4. Old Englishtūx
  5. Middle Englishtusk
  6. English todaytusk

From Middle English tusk (also tux, tusch), from Old English tūsc, tūx (“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.

Tusk · proper noun2

  1. Kashubian · derived fromTuzk
  2. Polish · borrowed fromTusk
  3. English todayTusk

Borrowed from Polish Tusk, from Kashubian Tuzk, a variant of Tuzek.

Words from the same roots

Proto-Germanic*tunþskaz all →

tush

Proto-Indo-European*h₃dónts all →

zinctoothdentaliumdentex

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.