English Explanatory Dictionary

ivory

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The hard white form of dentin which forms the tusks of elephants, walruses and other animals.
  2. A creamy white color, the color of ivory.
  3. Something made from or resembling ivory.
  4. The teeth.
  5. The keys of a piano; or, the white keys, as opposed to the black keys (ebonies).
  6. A white person.
  7. A die (object bearing numbers, thrown in games of chance).
adj
  1. Made of ivory.
  2. Resembling or having the colour of ivory.
name
  1. A surname from Old French.
  2. A male given name from English.
  3. A female given name from English.

Pronunciation

/ˈaɪv(ə)ɹi/ En-us-ivory.ogg

Word forms

ivory ivories

Etymology

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”).

Synonyms

abelungu ang moh Angrez balanda béké bule cac Caucasian cornstarch crusader cracker cumskin European farang firangi gringo gora gussuk gweilo haole honky hoogie hoojah ice monkey ivory joganosh kabloona laowai leucoderm mayo mayo monkey mayonnaise face melanin-challenged migaloo mlungu mzungu ofay oyinbo paddy Pakeha paleface pigskin pinky roundeye saltine snow bunny snow roach toubab umlungu vazaha vanilla wadjela white whiteboy white bread white devil whiteface white man whitey Whitoid wigger

Related words

Galalith chryselephantine eburnation odontolite scrimshaw whalebone

Derived words

black ivory gate of ivory ivoride ivoried ivorine ivoriness ivorist ivoroid ivory-bill ivorybill ivory bush coral ivorylike ivory porcelain ivory-pounder ivorysmith ivory-thumper ivory tickler ivory tree ivorytype ivoryware pink ivory purple ivory red ivory sea ivory tickle the ivories tickle the ivory vegetable ivory tree ivory-billed woodpecker ivory black Ivory Coast ivory gull ivory nut ivory-nut palm ivory palm ivory shell ivory tower ivory-white vegetable ivory

Translations

Afar: qaag Afrikaans: ivoor Afrikaans: elpebeen Akkadian: 𒅗 Arabic: عَاج Arabic: عاج Arabic: عَاجِيّ Arabic: عَاجِيَّة Armenian: փղոսկր Azerbaijani: fil sümüyü Azerbaijani: fil dişi Basque: boli Belarusian: слано́вая косць Central Bikol: gading Bulgarian: сло́нова кост Burmese: ဆင်စွယ် Catalan: ivori Catalan: vori Catalan: marfil Chinese Mandarin: 象牙 Crimean Tatar: fil tişi Czech: slonovina Danish: elfenben Dutch: ivoor Dutch: ivoorkleur Egyptian: Ab-b-w-qs Esperanto: eburo Estonian: elevandiluu Estonian: elevandiluuvärv Faroese: fílabein Finnish: norsunluu Finnish: norsunluunvalkoinen French: ivoire Old French: olifan Galician: marfil Georgian: სპილოს ძვალი German: Elfenbein German: Elfenbeinfarbe Greek: φίλντισι Ancient Greek: ἐλέφας Gujarati: હાથીદાંત Hausa: hauren giwa Hawaiian: niho ʻelepani Hebrew: שֶׁנְהָב Hindi: हाथीदांत Hindi: हाथी दांत Hindi: गजदन्त Hungarian: elefántcsont Hungarian: elefántcsontszín Icelandic: fílabein Icelandic: fílsbein Ido: ivoro Ido: ivoreo Ido: ivorkoloro Indonesian: gading Irish: eabhar Irish: dath an eabhair Italian: avorio
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on I Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary