tooth: [OE] Etymologically, a tooth is an ‘eater’. Its ultimate source is the prehistoric Indo- European base *ed- ‘eat’, which also lies behind English eat and edible. From this was formed the noun *dont-, *dent- ‘tooth’, whose descendants include Latin dēns ‘tooth’ (source of English dentist, indent, trident [16], etc), Greek odón ‘tooth’, (source of English odontology [19]), Welsh dant ‘tooth’, and prehistoric Germanic *tanthuz. This evolved into German zahn, Dutch, Swedish, and Danish tand, and English tooth. A variant of *tanthuz may lie behind English tusk. => dentist, eat, edible, indent, odontology, trident, tusk
tooth (n.)
Old English toð (plural teð), from Proto-Germanic *tan-thuz (cognates: Old Saxon, Danish, Swedish, Dutch tand, Old Norse tönn, Old Frisian toth, Old High German zand, German Zahn, Gothic tunþus), from PIE *dent- "tooth" (cognates: Sanskrit danta, Greek odontos, Latin dens, Lithuanian dantis, Old Irish det, Welsh dent). Plural form teeth is an instance of i-mutation.
Application to tooth-like parts of other objects (saws, combs, etc.) first recorded 1520s. Tooth and nail as weapons is from 1530s. The tooth-fairy is attested from 1964.
双语例句
1. A dentist may decide to extract the tooth to prevent recurrent trouble.
牙医可能会决定拔掉那颗牙，以免反复发作。
来自柯林斯例句
2. When not removed, plaque causes tooth decay and gum disease.
