tusk
/ˈtʌsk/noun, verb
tusk is spelled T-U-S-K: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 30,789th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, tusk means “One of a pair of elongated pointed teeth (either cuspids or incisors) that extend outside the mouth of an animal such as walrus, elephant or wild…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of tusk is tusks.
How many letters and syllables are in tusk?
| Letters | 4: T-U-S-K |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 30,789th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is tusk?
Tusk appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 30,789th 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 tusk?
- US /ˈtʌsk/
- /ˈtʊsk/
Tusk has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-tusk.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with tusk?
7 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as tusk from its last stressed vowel (/ʌsk/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of tusk
- tusks plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- tusking participle, present
- tusked participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does tusk mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
One of a pair of elongated pointed teeth (either cuspids or incisors) that extend outside the mouth of an animal such as walrus, elephant or wild boar, and which continue to grow throughout the animal's life.
Until the CITES sales ban, elephant tusks were the 'backbone' of the legal ivory trade.
- 2
A small projection on a (tusk) tenon.
- 3
A tusk shell.
- 4
A projecting member like a tenon, and serving the same or a similar purpose, but composed of several steps, or offsets, called teeth.
- 5
A sharp point.
- 6
The share of a plough.
- 7
An edible fish, Brosme brosme.
verb
- 1
To dig up using a tusk, as boars do.
- 2
To gore with the tusks.
- 3
obsoleteTo bare or gnash the teeth.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Tusk in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense pointed tooth:
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 tusk come from?
From Middle English tusk (also tux, tusch), 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”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).