tartar

• (General American) enPR: tärʹ-tər, IPA^(key): /ˈtɑɹ.tɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: tärʹ-tər, IPA^(key): /ˈtɑː.tə/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)tə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: tar‧tar
• Homophone: tarter

From Old French tartre, from Medieval Latin tartarum, from Byzantine Greek τάρταρον (tártaron), said to be from Arabic دُرْدِيّ (durdiyy), though it is already found in Pelagonius’s Ars veterinaria 46 in the adjective tartarālis, if the reading is correct. Arabic etymon from Persian درد (dord, “dreg”) from Proto-Iranian *dr̥ti- (“manure, feces”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰṛ-to-, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreyd- (“to have diarrhea”), whence also doublet of dirt.^[1]

tartar (countable and uncountable, plural tartars)

1. A red compound deposited during wine making, mostly potassium hydrogen tartrate; wine stone — a source of cream of tartar.

   Synonym: wine stone

2. A hard yellow deposit on the teeth, formed from dental plaque.

From figurative use of Tartar.

tartar (plural tartars)

1. (dated) A fearsome or angrily violent person.
   • 1929, Dashiell Hammett, chapter 3, in The Dain Curse‎^[1], New York: Vintage, published 1972, page 28:

     Mrs. Begg said she liked Mrs. Dain, who was a sensible woman and a first-rate housewife, but that Gabrielle was a tartar.

• tartar sauce

From French tartare.

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɑrtɑr/, [ˈt̪ɑ̝rt̪ɑ̝r]
• Rhymes: -ɑrtɑr
• Syllabification^(key): tar‧tar
• Hyphenation^(key): tar‧tar

tartar (not comparable, indeclinable, only used attributively)

1. (in compounds) tartare (chopped fine and served raw)

   tartar-pihvi ― steak tartare

tartar

1. A dish prepared with finely chopped, raw ingredients; tartare.

   Alkupalaksi tarjottiin lohitartaria.

   A salmon tartare was served as appetizer.

• tarrat

tartar f (invariable)

1. alternative form of tartare

From Old French Tartare.

tartar m (feminine singular tartare, masculine plural tartars, feminine plural tartares)

1. Tartar (of or relating to any of several Turkic groups)

• French: tartare

• tartare on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)

·tartar

1. passive singular present subjunctive perfective prototonic of do·beir

Borrowed from Old Church Slavonic тарътаръ (tarŭtarŭ), from Ancient Greek Τάρταρος (Tártaros). Doublet of Tartarus.

tartar n (plural tartaruri)

1. hell

Borrowed from French (bifteck) tartare.

• IPA^(key): /taɾˈtaɾ/ [t̪aɾˈt̪aɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: tar‧tar

tartar m (plural tartares)

1. tartar

• “tartar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025