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toothpick

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Etymology and origin of the English word toothpick

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
1488 Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland More words from the 15th century
Ultimate origin
Old English toþ,*pician
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
English tooth
English toothpick
From the same root
English toothbrush ← tooth
English toothpaste ← tooth

Pronunciation

  • /ˈtuːθ.pɪk/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English tooth + pick,[2][3][4][5] the second part in its sense of a pointed instrument.[2][3] Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives the first form as the Middle English (Scots) tuthpik, from toth and pik.[6] Old English used tōþsticca for the same thing, glossing Latin dentile.[7][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

An instrument for picking the teeth: 1488, in the Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland;[2] Etymonline dates the word to the late 15th century.[3]

Semantic evolution

Early toothpicks were usually quills or slips of wood, but some were made of gold or silver.[2] Pick-tooth and tooth-picker were used in the same sense from the 1540s.[3] From 1598, in Florio's dictionary, the name was given to a Mediterranean umbelliferous plant, Ammi visnaga, whose hardened flower stalks served as toothpicks.[2][4] In ironic slang it meant a large stick or cudgel from 1811, and in 1835 an Irish watchman's shillelagh;[8] it was also a pocketknife (1845) and, in America, a bayonet (1848, in J. F. Cooper), and in First World War army slang a bayonet again.[8] The OED records the US slang sense "bowie knife", also Arkansas toothpick, from 1837,[2] which Etymonline dates to 1867.[3] Hyperbolic phrases such as smashed into toothpicks, for splinters, appear from 1839 in Marryat,[2] and in 1897 Kipling used the word for a very narrow, pointed boat.[2]

Timeline

  • 1488 – an instrument for picking the teeth.[2]
  • 1598 – a Mediterranean plant, Ammi visnaga.[2]
  • 1811 – slang, a large stick or cudgel.[8]
  • 1837 – US slang, a bowie knife.[2]
  • 1839 – in the plural, splinters.[2]
  • 1845 – slang, a pocketknife.[8]
  • 1848 – US slang, a bayonet.[8]
  • 1897 – a very narrow, pointed boat.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A small, thin, pointed stick of wood, plastic or other material for removing bits of food from between the teeth.[6][9][2]
  2. A similar small stick used to spear or hold together small pieces of food.[6]
  3. (slang) A bowie knife.[9][2]
  4. (in plural) Splinters: The storm smashed the old pier into toothpicks.[2]
  5. A Mediterranean plant, Ammi visnaga, whose stiff flower stalks were used for picking the teeth.[2][4]

Word family

  • Arkansas toothpick

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  8. ^ a b c d e Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
Cite this entry

“Toothpick.” Etymologically, 13 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/toothpick. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

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