tusk

T1U1S1K5
US, UK/ˈtʌsk/Northern England/ˈtʊsk//ˈtuːsk/

noun

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.

“Until the CITES sales ban, elephant tusks were the 'backbone' of the legal ivory trade.”

Similar
torskcuskmore at cuskivoryhorndetusk
OriginMiddle English tusk ← Old English tūx ← Proto-West Germanic *tunsk →
Less commonScrabble 8
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

tusk1

nountusk (plural tusks)

plural tusks

  1. 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.

    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. businessA projecting member like a tenon, and serving the same or a similar purpose, but composed of several steps, or offsets, called teeth.
  5. A sharp point.
  6. The share of a plough.
verbtusk (third-person singular simple present tusks, present participle tusking, simple past and past participle tusked)

present singular third person tusks · participle present tusking · participle past tusked · past tusked

  1. To dig up using a tusk, as boars do.
  2. To gore with the tusks.
  3. obsoleteTo bare or gnash the teeth.

tusk2

nountusk (plural tusks)

plural tusks

  1. An edible fish, Brosme brosme.

    Synonyms: torsk, cusk, more at cusk

Tusk3

proper noun
  1. A male surname from Kashubian

Synonyms & antonyms

nounAn edible fish, Brosme brosme.

Similar
torskcuskmore at cusk

More synonyms by meaning

nouna hard smooth ivory colored dentine that makes up most of the tusks of elephants and walruses

Similar
ivory
Broader
dentinedentin

verbstab or pierce with a horn or tusk

Similar
horn
Broader
piercethrust

verbremove the tusks of animals

Similar
detusk
Broader
removetaketake away
Also see
cuskdetuskhornivorytorsk

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

tusk · noun, verb

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

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.

More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic

Full word history & related roots →

Tusk · proper noun

  1. KashubianTuzk
  2. PolishTusk
  3. EnglishTusk

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

More words from Polish, Kashubian

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Ancient Greek στόρθυγξ
  • στόρθυγξ (stórthunx)pointed tooth
Arabic نَاب
  • نَاب (nāb)pointed tooth
Bengali গজদন্ত
  • গজদন্ত (gojodonto)pointed tooth
Bulgarian бивник, бивен
  • бивник (bivnik)pointed tooth
  • бивен (biven)pointed tooth
Catalan ullal
  • ullalpointed tooth
Chinese Mandarin 長牙 /长牙, 牙
  • 長牙 /长牙 (chángyá)pointed tooth
  • 牙 (yá)pointed tooth
Czech kel
  • kelpointed tooth
Danish stødtand
  • stødtandpointed tooth
Dutch slagtand, stoottand
  • slagtandpointed tooth
  • stoottandpointed tooth
Esperanto dentego, tusko
  • dentegopointed tooth
  • tuskopointed tooth
  • pikdentopointed tooth
Estonian kihv
  • kihvpointed tooth
Finnish syöksyhammas
  • syöksyhammaspointed tooth
French défense, dague
  • défensepointed tooth
  • daguepointed tooth
German Stoßzahn, Hauer
  • Stoßzahnpointed tooth
  • Hauerpointed tooth
Greek χαυλιόδοντας
  • χαυλιόδοντας (chavliódontas)pointed tooth
Hawaiian niho
  • nihopointed tooth
Hebrew חָט, חטים
  • חָט (khat)pointed tooth
  • חטים (khatím)pointed tooth
Hindi खाँग, गजदंत
  • खाँग (khāṅg)pointed tooth
  • गजदंत (gajdant)pointed tooth
Hungarian agyar
  • agyarpointed tooth
Irish starrfhiacail
  • starrfhiacailpointed tooth
Italian zanna
  • zannapointed tooth
Japanese 牙, 象牙
  • 牙 (kiba)pointed tooth
  • 象牙 (zōge)pointed tooth
Korean 엄니, 송곳니
  • 엄니 (eomni)pointed tooth
  • 송곳니 (songgonni)pointed tooth
Malay gading, taring
  • gadingpointed tooth
  • taringpointed tooth
Māori reiputa
  • reiputapointed tooth
Norwegian Bokmål støttann, støyttann
  • støttannpointed tooth
  • støyttannpointed tooth
Persian یشک
  • یشک (yašk)pointed tooth
Polish cios, kieł
  • ciospointed tooth
  • kiełpointed tooth
Portuguese presa
  • presapointed tooth
Punjabi ਡੰਦ
  • ਡੰਦ (ḍand)pointed tooth
Romanian colț, fildeș
  • colțpointed tooth
  • fildeșpointed tooth
Russian би́вень, клык
  • би́вень (bívenʹ)pointed tooth
  • клыкpointed tooth
Slovak kel
  • kelpointed tooth
Spanish colmillo
  • colmillopointed tooth
Swahili pembe, upamba
  • pembepointed tooth
  • upambapointed tooth
Swedish bete
  • betepointed tooth
Tagalog salimao, pangil
  • salimaopointed tooth
  • pangilpointed tooth
Tamil தந்தம், கொம்பு
  • தந்தம் (tantam)pointed tooth
  • கொம்பு (kompu)pointed tooth
Thai งา, ทนต์
  • งา (ngaa)pointed tooth
  • ทนต์ (ton)pointed tooth
Ukrainian би́вень, вістря
  • би́вень (bývenʹ)pointed tooth
  • вістря (vistrja)sharp point
Vietnamese ngà
  • ngàpointed tooth
Welsh ysgithr
  • ysgithrpointed tooth

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with tusk

duskruskhuskluskbrusquebuskcusksubfusc
All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

tusk. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tusk

MLA

“tusk.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tusk. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tusk,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tusk.

Source: tusk on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.