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denture

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Etymology and origin of the English word denture

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈdɛntjə(ɹ)/, /ˈdɛntʃə(ɹ)/[1]
  • US: /ˈdɛnt͡ʃə(ɹ)/[1]

denture1 contract, indenture

Confidence
Established
Formation
Clipping
First attested
1416 before 1416, a Chancery proceeding
Ultimate origin
Old French endenteure

Etymology

The word for the contract is inherited from Middle English denture, also dentour,[2] a shortening from Middle English endenture, now indenture.[3][4][2] The longer Middle English word came through Anglo-French from Old French endenteure (“indentation”).[5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A written contract: before 1416, in a Chancery proceeding, "Thus they kepe my dede & the denture with my mevable good".[2] Etymonline dates it about 1400,[5] and the OED's first quotation is from about 1460, in the Tale of Beryn.[3]

Semantic evolution

The Middle English Dictionary takes the Tale of Beryn passage ("as a dentour wriythe") as a separate sense, a zigzag course, and compares Old French dentëure.[2][5] The OED's records of the contract sense end in 1541,[3] and the Shorter Oxford calls the word long obsolete except in dialect.[4] The English Dialect Dictionary records it, also as denter, in Lincolnshire and Somerset for an apprentice's papers, and says it was in daily use in west Somerset when parish apprentices were common.[6]

Timeline

  • before 1416 – a written contract, an indenture.[2]
  • c. 1460 – a zigzag course, in the Tale of Beryn.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (obsolete, c. 1460–1541) An indenture; later only dialectal.[3][4][2][6]

denture2 set of teeth

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1842
Borrowed from
French denture
Ultimate origin
Latin dēns

Etymology

The word for the set of teeth is borrowed from French denture (“set of teeth”),[3][7][5][8][9] from Middle French denteüre,[3][7] formed from dent (“tooth”) and the suffix -ure.[3][9][10] The French noun is from Latin dēns (“tooth”),[5][11] from Proto-Indo-European *dent- (“tooth”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A set of teeth: Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates this sense to 1842,[9] and Etymonline dates the word to 1845, as the provision of teeth in the jaws.[5] The OED and Barnhart first record it in 1874,[3][7] and the OED's quotation is from Knight's American Mechanical Dictionary.[3]

Semantic evolution

The word moved from teeth in general to artificial ones: Collins now calls the natural-teeth sense rare,[12] and Stedman's notes that it is sometimes used of the teeth of animals.[13] Today it usually refers to a removable replacement,[9][14] and it is mostly used in the plural.[4][12][15] The American Heritage Dictionary keeps the singular for a set for one jaw and the plural for a complete set for both.[8]

Timeline

  • 1842 – a set of teeth.[9] Etymonline dates the word to 1845,[5] the OED and Barnhart to 1874.[3][7]
  • 1874 – especially a set of artificial teeth.[3][7]
  • mid 20th century – denturist, a maker of artificial dentures.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A partial or full set of artificial teeth, especially a removable one; usually plural: He leaves his dentures in a glass at night.[12][9][8][14]
  2. (rare) A set of natural teeth.[12][9][13]

Word family

  • denturist

Usage notes

The OED and the Shorter Oxford also record a rare denture from 1685, meaning an indentation, which they derive from the verb dent and the suffix -ure.[3][4]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  7. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  8. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  11. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  13. ^ a b Stedman's Medical Dictionary, Baltimore: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
  14. ^ a b Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  15. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Denture.” Etymologically, 6 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/denture. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

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