Other forms: tusks
A tusk is a long pointed tooth projecting from the mouth. An elephant's tusk.
It is a tooth that never stops growing, which is why an old animal has the longest. The ivory trade in tusks is what nearly finished the elephant and is now banned nearly everywhere.
1nountuskA long pointed tooth projecting from the mouth.
“One tusk was worn shorter than the other from digging.”
tusk is a tooth.
Old English tusc is related to tooth through an old Germanic root.
Proto-Indo-European
*h₃ed- (bite)
Proto-Indo-European
*h₃dónts — tooth
Proto-Germanic
*tunþskaz — canine tooth
Proto-West Germanic
*tų̄sk,*tunsk
Old English
tūsc,tūx — canine tooth, tusk, molar
Middle English
tusk
English, today
tusk
Built from
From Middle English tusk. From Middle English tusk, 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 stq Tusk (“tooth”), West Frisian tosk (“tooth”), Icelandic toskur (“a tusk, tooth”) (whence the Old Norse and Icelandic Ratatoskr and Ratatoskur respectively), Gothic 𐍄𐌿𐌽𐌸𐌿𐍃 (“tooth”) and 𐍄𐌿𐌽𐌳𐌹 (“thorn, tooth”). a doublet of tush. More at tooth*.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA