Added 9 October 2026
tartar
/ˈtɑɹ.tɚ/ noun
In Latin: faecula Wiktionary
noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about tartar at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
Origin
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.
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)