Meanings
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Ancient Greekσωφρονιστῆρες“prudent or self-controlled ones (i.e. teeth)”
- Latindēns sapientiae
- Englishwisdom tooth
From wisdom + tooth, calque of Latin dēns sapientiae, which is itself a calque of Ancient Greek σωφρονιστῆρες (sōphronistêres, “prudent or self-controlled ones (i.e. teeth)”), because they arrive approximately when one has reached the age of prudence or wisdom. Compare also German Weisheitszahn (“wisdom tooth”), Danish visdomstand (“wisdom tooth”), Swedish visdomstand (“wisdom tooth”), Icelandic vísdómstönn (“wisdom tooth”), Dutch verstandskies (“wisdom tooth”, literally “intellect molar”), German Low German Verstandskuus (“wisdom tooth”, literally “wisdom molar”). Chinese 智齒 /智齿 (zhìchǐ), Russian зуб мудрости (zub mudrosti), Hebrew שן בינה (shen biná) and Finnish viisaudenhammas also mean “tooth of wisdom”.
More words from Latin, Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek σωφρονιστήρ
- σωφρονιστήρ (sōphronistḗr)rearmost molar in humans
Arabic ضِرْس اَلْعَقْل
- ضِرْس اَلْعَقْل (ḍirs al-ʕaql)rearmost molar in humans
Bengali আক্কেল দাঁত
- আক্কেল দাঁত (akkel dãt)rearmost molar in humans
Bulgarian мъдре́ц
- мъдре́ц (mădréc)rearmost molar in humans
Catalan queixal del seny
- queixal del senyrearmost molar in humans
Chinese Cantonese 智慧齒 /智慧齿
- 智慧齒 /智慧齿 (zi³ wai³ ci²)rearmost molar in humans
Chinese Mandarin 智齒 /智齿, 智牙
- 智齒 /智齿 (zhìchǐ)rearmost molar in humans
- 智牙 (zhìyá)rearmost molar in humans
Czech zub moudrosti, moudrák
- zub moudrostirearmost molar in humans
- moudrákrearmost molar in humans
Danish visdomstand
- visdomstandrearmost molar in humans
Dutch verstandskies, wijsheidstand
- verstandskiesrearmost molar in humans
- wijsheidstandrearmost molar in humans
Esperanto saĝodento
- saĝodentorearmost molar in humans
Estonian tarkusehammas
- tarkusehammasrearmost molar in humans
Finnish viisaudenhammas
- viisaudenhammasrearmost molar in humans
French dent de sagesse
- dent de sagesserearmost molar in humans
German Weisheitszahn
- Weisheitszahnrearmost molar in humans
Greek φρονιμίτης, σωφρονιστήρας
- φρονιμίτης (fronimítis)rearmost molar in humans
- σωφρονιστήρας (sofronistíras)rearmost molar in humans
Hebrew שֵׁן בִּינָה
- שֵׁן בִּינָה (shen biná)rearmost molar in humans
Hindi अक़्ल-दाढ़
- अक़्ल-दाढ़ (aqla-dāṛh)rearmost molar in humans
Hungarian bölcsességfog
- bölcsességfogrearmost molar in humans
Icelandic endajaxl, vísdómstönn
- endajaxlrearmost molar in humans
- vísdómstönnrearmost molar in humans
- geirjaxlrearmost molar in humans
Indonesian gigi bungsu
- gigi bungsurearmost molar in humans
Irish fiacail forais
- fiacail foraisrearmost molar in humans
Italian dente del giudizio
- dente del giudiziorearmost molar in humans
Japanese 親知らず
- 親知らず (oya-shirazu)rearmost molar in humans
Korean 사랑니, 지치
- 사랑니 (sarangni)rearmost molar in humans
- 지치 (jichi)rearmost molar in humans
Latin dēns sapientiae
- dēns sapientiaerearmost molar in humans
Latvian gudrības zobs
- gudrības zobsrearmost molar in humans
Lithuanian protinis dantis
- protinis dantisrearmost molar in humans
Malay gigi bongsu
- gigi bongsurearmost molar in humans
Māori niho pū
- niho pūrearmost molar in humans
Norwegian visdomstann
- visdomstannrearmost molar in humans
Persian دندان عقل
- دندان عقل (dandân-e aql)rearmost molar in humans
Polish ząb mądrości, ósemka
- ząb mądrościrearmost molar in humans
- ósemkarearmost molar in humans
Portuguese siso, dente do siso
- sisorearmost molar in humans
- dente do sisorearmost molar in humans
- dente do juízorearmost molar in humans
Romanian măsea de minte, molar de minte
- măsea de minterearmost molar in humans
- molar de minterearmost molar in humans
Russian зуб му́дрости
- зуб му́дрости (zub múdrosti)rearmost molar in humans
Slovak zub múdrosti
- zub múdrostirearmost molar in humans
Spanish muela del juicio, cordal
- muela del juiciorearmost molar in humans
- cordalrearmost molar in humans
- muela cordalrearmost molar in humans
Swedish visdomstand
- visdomstandrearmost molar in humans
Tagalog bagang-bait, ngipin ng karunungan
- bagang-baitrearmost molar in humans
- ngipin ng karununganrearmost molar in humans
Tamil ஞானப்பல்
- ஞானப்பல் (ñāṉappal)rearmost molar in humans
Thai ฟันกรามซี่สุดท้าย
- ฟันกรามซี่สุดท้าย (fan-graam sîi sùt-táai)rearmost molar in humans
Turkish akıl dişi, akıldişi
- akıl dişirearmost molar in humans
- akıldişirearmost molar in humans
- yirmilik dişrearmost molar in humans
Ukrainian зуб му́дрості
- зуб му́дрості (zub múdrosti)rearmost molar in humans
Vietnamese răng khôn
- răng khônrearmost molar in humans
Welsh dant helbul, dant gofid
- dant helbulrearmost molar in humans
- dant gofidrearmost molar in humans
Yiddish חכמה־צאָן
- חכמה־צאָן (khokhme-tson)rearmost molar in humans
Cite this entry
wisdom tooth. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wisdom%20tooth
“wisdom tooth.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wisdom%20tooth. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “wisdom tooth,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wisdom%20tooth.
Source: wisdom tooth on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.