toothbrush

Etymology

It is formed from English tooth + brush.^[2][3][4][5] Tooth is from Old English tōþ,^[6][3] and brush is from Old French brosse, also broisse.^[2][3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A small brush, usually with a long handle, for cleaning the teeth: Etymonline dates the word to the 1650s,^[3] and Dictionary.com to 1645–55;^[5] the OED's and Merriam-Webster's first record is from 1690, in the diary of the Oxford antiquary Anthony Wood.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

The sense has stayed the same since the 17th century.^[2][4] By 1892 a short, bristly moustache trimmed to a rectangle was called a toothbrush moustache: an American newspaper article on beards in the Senate that year spoke of "the toothbrush mustache of Senator Call, of Florida".^[3][4] The toothbrush tree is a small tree of tropical Asia and Africa, Salvadora persica, whose twigs are chewed to clean the teeth.^[4]

Timeline

• 1650s – a brush for cleaning the teeth, according to Etymonline.^[3][5]
• 1690 – first OED quotation (Anthony Wood).^[2][7]
• 1892 – toothbrush mustache.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small brush with a long handle, used for cleaning the teeth.^[8][7][2]
2. toothbrush moustache: a short, bristly moustache trimmed to a rectangular shape.^[4][3]

Related words

• tooth
• brush
• toothpaste
• toothpick

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e 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 Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins