Meanings
plural dentalia · plural dentaliums
- Any of various tooth shells of the genus Dentalium.
Apart from the two or three bird masks, the only other zoomorphic mask was a wolf frontlet of cedar decorated in micaceous black paint with dentalium teeth, dentalium being an important form of wealth with some of the attributes of a currency.
1999, Jonathan C. H. King, First Peoples, First Contacts: Native Peoples of North America, page 138
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*h₃dónts
- Proto-Italic*dents
- Latindentālis“dental”
- translingualDentalium
- Englishdentalium
Borrowed from translingual Dentalium, from Latin dentālis (“dental”), dēns (“tooth”), Proto-Italic *dents and Proto-Indo-European *h₃dónts.
More words from translingual, Latin, Proto-Italic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan dent de mar
- dent de marindividual of the genus Dentalium
Chinese Mandarin 象牙貝 /象牙贝, 角貝 /角贝
- 象牙貝 /象牙贝 (xiàngyábèi)individual of the genus Dentalium
- 角貝 /角贝 (jiǎobèi)individual of the genus Dentalium
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
dentalium. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dentalium
“dentalium.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dentalium. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “dentalium,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dentalium.
Source: dentalium on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.