tartar
noun · adjective
Simple meaning
A hard yellow deposit on the teeth, formed from dental plaque.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
tahrterSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈtɑɹtɚ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A hard yellow deposit on the teeth, formed from dental plaque.
A red compound deposited during wine making, mostly potassium hydrogen tartrate; wine stone — a source of cream of tartar.
A member of the various tribes and their descendants of Tartary, such as Turks, Mongols and Manchus.
One of the tributary rivers of the Kura, flowing through Artsakh and Azerbaijan.
figurative
A rough or violent event.
An agglutinative language belonging to the Altai group of Turkic languages. It is an official language of Tatarstan. There are some eight million speakers spread across Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia.
adjective
Of or relating to the people or culture of Tartars.
Word at a Glance
- Frequency
- Rare
- Formality
- Technical
Share your sentence
Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Ground beef mixed with raw egg and e.g. onions and capers and anchovies.
Mayonnaise with chopped pickles and sometimes capers and shallots and parsley and hard-cooked egg.
A poisonous colorless salt used as a mordant and in medicine.
Australian tree having an agreeably acid fruit that resembles a gourd.
A salt used especially in baking powder.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: of or relating to the people
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Keep learning “tartar” by choosing the kind of practice you need next.
- Practice sentence writingWrite sentences with vocabulary and get instant feedback.
- Practice in contextAnswer short vocabulary questions drawn from real situations.
- Review vocabularyTest your recall and strengthen words over time.
- Practice typingType vocabulary in short rounds that draw from words you've learned and saved.
Want to type words like this one without looking at the keyboard? Each typing round draws from words you've learned, saved or need to review. Follow the free Learn to Type lessons and type your own vocabulary with confidence.
Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.