Meanings
nountoothbrush (plural toothbrushes)
plural toothbrushes
- A brush, used with toothpaste, for cleaning the teeth.
A Turkiſh tooth-bruſh
1656, John Tradescant, Muſæum Tradefcantianum: OR, A COLLECTION OF RARITIES. PRESERVED At South-Lambeth neer London, page 53
verbtoothbrush (third-person singular simple present toothbrushes, present participle toothbrushing, simple past and past participle toothbrushed)
present singular third person toothbrushes · participle present toothbrushing · participle past toothbrushed · past toothbrushed
- transitiveTo clean or scrub with a toothbrush.
I toothbrushed the stale rum stink from my mouth and stared at myself in the cabinet mirror.
2004, Iceberg Slim, Trick Baby1 more example
In Rome, a restorer toothbrushed away some candle-grime over God's Sistine Chapel eye to reveal an eyebrow of Groucho Marx proportion.
1997, Matthew Remski, Dying for Veronica
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From tooth + brush. Compare Saterland Frisian Tuskebäärsel (“toothbrush”), West Frisian toskboarstel (“toothbrush”), Dutch tandenborstel (“toothbrush”), German Zahnbürste (“toothbrush”), Danish tandbørste (“toothbrush”), Swedish tandborste (“toothbrush”), Icelandic tannbursti (“toothbrush”).
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans tandeborsel
- tandeborselbrush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Arabic فُرْشَاة أَسْنَان
- فُرْشَاة أَسْنَان (furšāt ʔasnān)brush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Bengali টুথব্রাশ
- টুথব্রাশ (ṭuthobraś)brush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Bulgarian че́тка за зъ́́би, че́тка за зъби́
- че́тка за зъ́́би (čétka za zắ́bi)brush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
- че́тка за зъби́ (čétka za zăbí)brush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Catalan raspall de dents, raspallet
- raspall de dentsbrush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
- raspalletbrush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
- raspallet de les dentsbrush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Chinese Cantonese 牙刷
- 牙刷 (ngaa⁴ caat³)brush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Chinese Mandarin 牙刷
- 牙刷 (yáshuā)brush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Czech zubní kartáček
- zubní kartáčekbrush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Danish tandbørste
- tandbørstebrush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Dutch tandenborstel
- tandenborstelbrush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Esperanto dentobroso
- dentobrosobrush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Estonian hambahari
- hambaharibrush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Finnish hammasharja
- hammasharjabrush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
French brosse à dents
- brosse à dentsbrush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
German Zahnbürste
- Zahnbürstebrush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Greek οδοντόβουρτσα
- οδοντόβουρτσα (odontóvourtsa)brush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Hebrew מִבְרֶשֶׁת שִׁנַּיִם
- מִבְרֶשֶׁת שִׁנַּיִם (mivréshet shináyim)brush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Hindi टूथब्रश, दाँत का बुरुश
- टूथब्रश (ṭūthabraś)brush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
- दाँत का बुरुश (dā̃t kā buruś)brush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Hungarian fogkefe
- fogkefebrush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Icelandic tannbursti
- tannburstibrush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Indonesian sikat gigi
- sikat gigibrush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Irish scuab fiacla
- scuab fiaclabrush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Italian spazzolino da denti
- spazzolino da dentibrush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Japanese 歯ブラシ
- 歯ブラシ (haburashi)brush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Korean 칫솔
- 칫솔 (chitsol)brush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Latvian zobu suka, zobubirste
- zobu sukabrush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
- zobubirstebrush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
- zobu birstebrush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Lithuanian dantų šepetukas
- dantų šepetukasbrush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Malay berus gigi
- berus gigibrush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Māori taitai niho, paraihe niho
- taitai nihobrush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
- paraihe nihobrush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Norwegian Bokmål tannbørste
- tannbørstebrush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Polish szczoteczka do zębów
- szczoteczka do zębówbrush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Portuguese escova de dentes
- escova de dentesbrush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Romanian periuță de dinți
- periuță de dințibrush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Russian зубна́я щётка
- зубна́я щётка (zubnája ščótka)brush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Scottish Gaelic bruis-fhiaclan
- bruis-fhiaclanbrush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Slovak zubná kefka
- zubná kefkabrush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Spanish cepillo de dientes, escobilla de dientes
- cepillo de dientesbrush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
- escobilla de dientesbrush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Swahili mswaki
- mswakibrush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Swedish tandborste
- tandborstebrush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Tagalog sipilyo
- sipilyobrush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Thai แปรงสีฟัน
- แปรงสีฟัน (bprɛɛng-sǐi-fan)brush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Turkish diş fırçası
- diş fırçasıbrush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Ukrainian зубна́ щі́тка
- зубна́ щі́тка (zubná ščítka)brush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Urdu ٹُوتھ بُرَش
- ٹُوتھ بُرَش (ṭūth buraś)brush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Vietnamese bàn chải đánh răng, bàn chải (contextual)
- bàn chải đánh răngbrush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
- bàn chải (contextual)brush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Welsh brwsh dannedd
- brwsh danneddbrush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Yiddish ציינבערשטל
- ציינבערשטל (tseynbershtl)brush for cleaning the teeth and tongue
Cite this entry
APA
toothbrush. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/toothbrush
MLA
“toothbrush.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/toothbrush. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “toothbrush,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/toothbrush.
Source: toothbrush on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.