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PlainSpell

ivory

i·vo·ry/ˈaɪv(ə)ɹi/noun, adjective

ivory is spelled I-V-O-R-Y: 5 letters and 3 syllables (i·vo·ry). It appears 7.1 times per million words in written English, the 8,918th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, ivory means “The hard white form of dentin which forms the tusks of elephants, walruses and other animals” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of ivory is ivories.

How many letters and syllables are in ivory?

Letters5: I-V-O-R-Y
Syllables3: i·vo·ry
In writing7.1 times per million words; the 8,918th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is ivory?

Ivory appears 7.1 times per million words in written English, the 8,918th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce ivory?

  • /ˈaɪv(ə)ɹi/

Ivory has 3 syllables, split i·vo·ry in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-ivory.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of ivory

  • ivories plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does ivory mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    The hard white form of dentin which forms the tusks of elephants, walruses and other animals.

  2. 2

    A creamy white color, the color of ivory.

  3. 3

    Something made from or resembling ivory.

  4. 4

    The teeth.

  5. 5

    The keys of a piano; or, the white keys, as opposed to the black keys (ebonies).

    to tickle the ivories

  6. 6

    slangA white person.

  7. 7

    informalA die (object bearing numbers, thrown in games of chance).

adjective

  1. 1

    Made of ivory.

  2. 2

    Resembling or having the colour of ivory.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Ivory in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchivoire (material)
GermanElfenbein (material), Elfenbeinfarbe (colour), elfenbeinern, Elfenbein- (made of ivory), elfenbeinfarben, elfenbeinfarbig (having colour of ivory)
Portuguesemarfim (material), ebúrneo, ebóreo (colour), de marfim (made of ivory)
Spanishmarfil (material), ebúrneo (colour), de marfil (made of ivory)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does ivory come from?

From Middle English yvory, ivorie, from Anglo-Norman ivurie, from Latin eboreus (“in or of ivory”) adjective of ebur (“ivory”) (genitive eboris), from Demotic Egyptian yb (“ivory, Elephantine”) (compare Coptic ⲓⲏⲃ (iēb, “Elephantine”)), from Egyptian ꜣbw (“elephant, ivory, Elephantine”), from Proto-Afroasiatic *leb-. Displaced native Old English elpendbān (literally “elephant bone”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after ivory