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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

ivory.

The hard white form of dentin which forms the tusks of elephants, walruses and other animals.

5 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈaɪv(ə)ɹi/

  1. The hard white form of dentin which forms the tusks of elephants, walruses and other animals.

    uncountable

  2. A creamy white color, the color of ivory.

    countable · uncountable

  3. Something made from or resembling ivory.

    countable · uncountable

  4. The teeth.

    collective · countable · plural · singular · uncountable

  5. The keys of a piano; or, the white keys, as opposed to the black keys (ebonies).

    collective · countable · plural · singular · uncountable
    to tickle the ivories

  6. A white person.

    countable · ethnic · slang · slur · uncountable

  7. A die (object bearing numbers, thrown in games of chance).

    countable · informal · uncountable
Where this word comes from

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”).

adj/ˈaɪv(ə)ɹi/

  1. Made of ivory.

    not-comparable

  2. Resembling or having the colour of ivory.

    not-comparable
Where this word comes from

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”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.