tooth

Meanings

Noun

• A hard, calcareous structure present in the mouth of many vertebrate animals, generally used for eating.
• A sharp projection on the blade of a saw or similar implement.
• A projection on the edge of a gear that meshes with similar projections on adjacent gears, or on the circumference of a cog that engages with a chain.
• A projection or point in other parts of the body resembling the tooth of a vertebrate animal.
• A pointed projection from the margin of a leaf.
• The rough surface of some kinds of cel or other films that allows better adhesion of artwork.
• Liking, fondness (compare toothsome).
• An irreducible component of a comb that intersects the handle in exactly one point, that point being distinct from the unique point of intersection for any other tooth of the comb.

Verb

• To provide or furnish with teeth.
• To indent; to jag.
• To lock into each other, like gear wheels.

Origin

• From Middle English tothe, toth, tooth, from Old English tōþ ("tooth"), from Proto-West Germanic *tanþ, from Proto-Germanic *tanþs ("tooth"), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃dónts ("tooth"). Related to tusk. dent, and dens.
• Cognate with Scots tuth, tuith, North Frisian toth, tos, Dutch tand ("tooth"), German Zahn ("tooth"), Danish tand ("tooth"), Swedish tand ("tooth"), Norwegian tann ("tooth"), Icelandic tönn ("tooth"), Welsh dant ("tooth"), Latin dēns ("tooth"), Lithuanian dantìs ("tooth"), Ancient Greek ὀδούς/ὀδών, Armenian ատամ, Persian دندان, Sanskrit दत्, दन्त.