tartar

/ˈtɑɹ.tɚ/

UK: /ˈtɑː.tə/

TⱭɹ · tɚ (2 syllables)

English Noun Top 25,729

Definition

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

Etymology

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.