What does "tartar" mean?
A red compound deposited during wine making, mostly potassium hydrogen tartrate; wine stone — a source of cream of tartar.
Tartar
/ˈtɑɹ.tɚ/ adj, name, noun
adj, name, noun ·Moderate ·College level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A red compound deposited during wine making, mostly potassium hydrogen tartrate; wine stone — a source of cream of tartar.
- Grammar: tartar is listed as adj, name, noun.
- Nearest alternatives: calculus, cream of tartar, potassium bitartrate, potassium hydrogen tartrate.
- Useful contrasts: clean tooth, gentleperson, softie.
- Usage evidence: I think I have a lot of tartar.
How to use "tartar"
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- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
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Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "tartar" in a final draft.
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Before you rely on this definition
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Compare nearby meanings
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Definition decision workflow
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Check whether "tartar" is acting as adj, name, noun in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
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Final meaning check
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Definitions
Noun
- 1 A red compound deposited during wine making, mostly potassium hydrogen tartrate; wine stone — a source of cream of tartar. countable, uncountable
- 2 A fearsome or angrily violent person. dated
"Mrs. Begg said she liked Mrs. Dain, who was a sensible woman and a first-rate housewife, but that Gabrielle was a tartar."
- 3 Alternative spelling of Tatar. alt-of, alternative
- 4 an incrustation that forms on the teeth and gums wordnet
- 5 A hard yellow deposit on the teeth, formed from dental plaque. countable, uncountable
Show 6 more definitions
- 6 A member of the various tribes and their descendants of Tartary, such as Turks, Mongols and Manchus.
"Persia is a great country, which was in old times very illustrious and powerful; but now the Tartars have wasted and destroyed it."
- 7 a member of the Mongolian people of central Asia who invaded Russia in the 13th century wordnet
- 8 A person of a keen, irritable temper. dated, figuratively
- 9 a fiercely vigilant and unpleasant woman wordnet
- 10 A rough or violent event. figuratively
"I haven't escaped sickness all my life to get off easily now. […] I knew when my turn came, it would be a Tartar."
- 11 a salt used especially in baking powder wordnet
Adjective
- 1 Of or relating to the people or culture of Tartars.
"Tartar customs"
Proper Noun
- 1 One of the tributary rivers of the Kura, flowing through Artsakh and Azerbaijan.
- 2 A town in Azerbaijan located on this river.
Synonyms
All synonymsAntonyms
Example
"I think I have a lot of tartar."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "tartar"?
Common synonyms include: calculus, cream of tartar, potassium bitartrate, potassium hydrogen tartrate, atlas, bear.
How do you use "tartar" in a sentence?
I think I have a lot of tartar.
How do you pronounce "tartar"?
Pronounced /ˈtɑɹ.tɚ/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Old French tartre, from Medieval Latin tartarum, from Byzantine Greek τάρταρον (tártaron), said to be from Arabic دُرْدِيّ (durdiyy), though it is already found in Pelagonius’s Ars veterinaria 46 in the adjective tartarālis, if the reading is correct. Arabic etymon from Persian درد (dord, “dreg”) from Proto-Iranian *dr̥ti- (“manure, feces”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰṛ-to-, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreyd- (“to have diarrhea”), whence also doublet of dirt.
Etymology 2
From figurative use of Tartar.
Etymology 3
From Old French Tartaire, from Medieval Latin Tartarus (“Tartar, Mongol”), from Old Turkic 𐱃𐱃𐰺 (t¹t¹r¹), spelling influenced by Latin Tartarus (“Hell (in Greek mythology)”), from Ancient Greek Τάρταρος (Tártaros).
Etymology 4
From Armenian Թարթառ (Tʻartʻaṙ).