Meanings
plural curettes · alternative curet
- dentistryA hand-held surgical instrument, often with a scoop or hook at its tip, used for cleaning or debriding biological tissue.
Beginning in the 1880s, the curette quickly became the popular choice for those doctors on the lookout for instrumental aid in cases of pregnancy loss.
2019, Shannon Withycombe, Lost: Miscarriage in Nineteenth-Century America, Rutgers University Press, unnumbered page2 more examples
Curettes are used for the subgingival removal of dental deposits and for root planing. They can also be used supragingivally. The working tip of a curette is more slender than that of a scaler.
2008, Cecilia Gorrel, Small Animal Dentistry, Elsevier (Saunders), page 2232020, Yu Matsumoto, 10: Bone Curette Handle for Improved Bone Removal in Endoscopic Ear Surgery, Seiji Kakehata, Tsukasa Ito, Daisuke Yamauchi (editors), Innovations in Endoscopic Ear Surgery, Springer, page 86, Curettes with an octagonal-shaped shaft are readily available and widely distributed in Japan.
present singular third person curettes · participle present curetting · participle past curetted · past curetted · alternative curet
- transitivemedicineTo scrape with a curette.
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna surgical instrument shaped like a scoop to remove tissue from a bodily cavity
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Frenchcurette
- Englishcurette
Borrowed from French curette, from curer (“to clean out, scrape out”).
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic مِجْرَفة, مِكْشَطة
- مِجْرَفة (mijrafa)surgical instrument used for cleaning tissue
- مِكْشَطة (mikšaṭa)surgical instrument used for cleaning tissue
Bulgarian кюрета
- кюрета (kjureta)surgical instrument used for cleaning tissue
Catalan cureta, cullereta
- curetasurgical instrument used for cleaning tissue
- culleretasurgical instrument used for cleaning tissue
Czech kyreta
- kyretasurgical instrument used for cleaning tissue
Dutch curette
- curettesurgical instrument used for cleaning tissue
Estonian kürett
- kürettsurgical instrument used for cleaning tissue
Finnish kaavin, kyretti
- kaavinsurgical instrument used for cleaning tissue
- kyrettisurgical instrument used for cleaning tissue
- kaapiato scrape with a curette
French curette
- curettesurgical instrument used for cleaning tissue
German Kürette
- Kürettesurgical instrument used for cleaning tissue
Greek ξέστρο
- ξέστρο (xéstro)surgical instrument used for cleaning tissue
Indonesian kuret
- kuretsurgical instrument used for cleaning tissue
Italian curette
- curettesurgical instrument used for cleaning tissue
Japanese キュレット, キューレット
- キュレットsurgical instrument used for cleaning tissue
- キューレットsurgical instrument used for cleaning tissue
- 掻爬器 (souhaki)surgical instrument used for cleaning tissue
Polish łyżeczkować
- łyżeczkowaćto scrape with a curette
Portuguese cureta, curetar
- curetasurgical instrument used for cleaning tissue
- curetarto scrape with a curette
Russian кюре́тка
- кюре́тка (kjurétka)surgical instrument used for cleaning tissue
Spanish legra, legrar
- legrasurgical instrument used for cleaning tissue
- legrarto scrape with a curette
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with curette
Cite this entry
curette. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/curette
“curette.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/curette. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “curette,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/curette.
Source: curette on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.