dent

See also: Dent, dént, and dënt

English

A dented shield.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) enPR: dĕnt, IPA^(key): /dɛnt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛnt

Etymology 1

From Middle English dent, dente, dint (“a blow; strike; dent”), from Old English dynt (“blow, strike, the mark or noise of a blow”), from Proto-Germanic *duntiz (“a blow”). Akin to Old Norse dyntr (“dint”). Doublet of dint.

Noun

dent (plural dents)

1. A shallow deformation in the surface of an object, produced by an impact.

   The crash produced a dent in the left side of the car.

2. (figurative) A minor effect made upon something.

   to make a dent

   • 1990, Wayne Jancik, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, →ISBN, page 392:

     "Case Of You" (#67, 1980), a single on the Scotti Brothers label, was Frank's first chart dent.

   • 2022, W. David Marx, chapter 10, in Status and Culture, Viking, →ISBN:

     The transitoriness perhaps makes viral content the most representative form of culture in the twenty-first century: an era of vast quantities, deep specificity, and breakneck speed, where few individual artifacts, artworks, or conventions leave a dent in society or bend the curve of history.

3. A type of maize/corn with a relatively soft outer hull, and a soft type of starch that shrinks at maturity to leave an indentation in the surface of the kernel.
4. (by extension, informal) A sudden negative change, such as loss, damage, weakening, consumption or diminution, especially one produced by an external force, event or action

   That purchase put a bit of a dent in my wallet.

   • 2011 April 11, Phil McNulty, “Liverpool 3 - 0 Man City”, in BBC Sport‎:

     Andy Carroll's first goals since his £35m move to Liverpool put a dent in Manchester City's Champions League hopes as they were emphatically swept aside at Anfield.

Derived terms

• dent corn
• indent
• put a dent in the universe
• scratch-and-dent

Translations

shallow deformation in the surface

Arabic: please add this translation if you can Armenian: please add this translation if you can Bulgarian: вдлъбнатина (bg) f (vdlǎbnatina), щърбел (štǎrbel) Catalan: bony (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: please add this translation if you can Czech: důlek m, promáčklina f, prohlubenina f Dhivehi: ގޮނބި (goᵐbi) Dutch: deuk (nl) m, (Belgium) bluts (nl) m, (Netherlands) buts (nl) c Esperanto: please add this translation if you can Estonian: please add this translation if you can Finnish: lommo (fi), kolhu (fi) French: bosse (fr) f Galician: crocada f, croca (gl) f, citra f, amolegadura f Georgian: ფოსო (poso) German: Beule (de) f, Delle (de) f Greek: κοίλωμα (el) n (koíloma), βαθούλωμα (el) n (vathoúloma) Hebrew: מַכָּה (he) Hungarian: horpadás (hu) Italian: ammaccatura (it) f Japanese: 凹み (ja) (hekomi) Jarai: jĭt Korean: please add this translation if you can Latvian: please add this translation if you can Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can Mongolian: please add this translation if you can Norwegian: bulk m, bungel m Polish: wgniecenie n Portuguese: amassado (pt), amolgadela (pt) Romanian: teșitură (ro) f Russian: вмя́тина (ru) f (vmjátina) Serbo-Croatian: uleknuće, udubina (sh), udubljenje (sh) Slovene: vdrtina f Spanish: abolladura (es) f, bolladura f, abollón (es) m Swedish: buckla (sv) c Tagalog: piing Thai: please add this translation if you can Turkish: çökme (tr), göçük (tr), oyuk (tr) Ukrainian: я́мка (uk) f (jámka) Vietnamese: vết lõm Welsh: tolc m

Verb

dent (third-person singular simple present dents, present participle denting, simple past and past participle dented)

1. (transitive) To impact something, producing a dent.
2. (intransitive) To develop a dent or dents.

   Copper is soft and dents easily.

Derived terms

• dedent
• dentable
• dentproof

Translations

produce a dent

Azerbaijani: əzmək (az) Bulgarian: нащърбвам (naštǎrbvam) Catalan: abonyegar (ca) Czech: promáčknout Dutch: deuken (nl), indeuken (nl), (Belgium) blutsen (nl) Finnish: lommouttaa, kolhia (fi) French: cabosser (fr) Galician: amolegar, estrochar, crocar, esmurrullar, mamicar, abolar (gl) German: einbeulen (de), eindellen (de) Greek: βαθουλώνω (el) (vathoulóno) Hungarian: horpaszt (hu) Italian: ammaccare (it) Japanese: 凹ませる (hekomaseru) Malayalam: ചളുക്കുക (ml) (caḷukkuka) Norwegian: bulke Portuguese: amassar (pt) Spanish: abollar (es), hacer mella Welsh: tolcio (cy)

develop a dent

Czech: promáčknout se Dutch: deuken (nl) krijgen (nl) Finnish: lommoontua Galician: crocar, abolar (gl) Hungarian: horpad (hu) Japanese: 凹む (ja) (hekomu) Malayalam: ചളുങ്ങുക (ml) (caḷuṅṅuka) Norwegian: få en bulk Spanish: abollar (es) (pronominal) Welsh: tolcio (cy)

Etymology 2

From French dent, from Latin dēns, dentis (“tooth”). Doublet of dens and tooth.

Noun

dent (plural dents)

1. (engineering) A tooth, as of a card, a gear wheel, etc.
2. (weaving) A slot or a wire in a reed

Anagrams

• 'tend, tend

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin dentem m.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈden]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [ˈdent]

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

dent f (plural dents)

1. (anatomy) tooth
2. tooth (saw tooth)
3. tooth (gear tooth)

Derived terms

• a cavall regalat, no li miris el dentat
• dent canina
• dent de lleó
• dent incisiva
• dentar
• dentut

Related terms

• dentadura
• dental
• dentat
• dentista

Further reading

• “dent” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “dent”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “dent” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “dent” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Franco-Provençal

Alternative forms

• dè, din

Etymology

Inherited from Latin dentem.

Noun

dent f (plural dents) (ORB, broad)

1. tooth

References

• dent in DicoFranPro: Dictionnaire Français/Francoprovençal – on dicofranpro.llm.umontreal.ca
• dent in Lo trèsor Arpitan – on arpitan.eu

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French dent f, with change of gender from Old French dent m, from Latin dentem m, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃dénts, *h₃dónts.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɑ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophones: dam, dams, dans, dents

Noun

dent f (plural dents)

1. tooth
2. cog (tooth on a gear)

Derived terms

• à belles dents
• à cheval donné on ne regarde pas les dents
• à pleines dents
• armé jusqu’aux dents
• avoir la dent
• avoir la dent creuse
• avoir les dents du fond qui baignent
• avoir les dents longues
• avoir les dents qui rayent le parquet
• avoir une dent contre
• brosse à dents
• coup de dent
• cure-dent
• dent de lait
• dent de sagesse
• dent-de-lion
• dentaire
• dental
• denté
• dentelé
• dentelle
• dentelure
• dentifrice
• dentiste
• dentition
• dents du bonheur
• denture
• denturologie
• denturologue, denturologiste
• en dents de scie
• faire ses dents
• fée des dents
• mentir comme un arracheur de dents
• montrer les dents
• ne pas desserrer les dents
• œil pour œil, dent pour dent
• parler entre ses dents
• pâte à dents
• poil aux dents
• quand les poules auront des dents
• rage de dent
• rage de dents
• se mettre sous la dent
• serrer les dents
• sourire de toutes ses dents
• s’y casser les dents
• tigre à dents de sabre

Further reading

• “dent”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• tend

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /dent/, [d̪ɛn̪t̪]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /dent/, [d̪ɛn̪t̪]

Verb

dent

1. third-person plural present active subjunctive of dō, "they may give"

Lombard

Etymology 1

Inherited from Latin dentem.

Pronunciation

• (Milanese) IPA^(key): /ˈdɛn/

Noun

dent m

1. tooth

Etymology 2

From Late Latin dē intrō.

Adverb

dent

1. inside; indoors

References

• AIS: Sprach- und Sachatlas Italiens und der Südschweiz [Linguistic and Ethnographic Atlas of Italy and Southern Switzerland] – map 108: “un dente marcio” – on navigais-web.pd.istc.cnr.it
• Arrighi, Cletto (1896) Dizionario milanese-italiano, col repertorio italiano-milanese: […] ‎ (in Italian), Milan: Hoepli, page 184
• Angiolini, Francesco (1897) Vocabolario milanese-italiano coi segni per la pronuncia‎ (in Italian), pages 262-263

Middle English

Noun

dent

1. Alternative form of dint

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French dent m.

Noun

dent f (plural dens)

1. tooth

Descendants

• French: dent f

Norman

Norman Wikipedia has an article on:

nrf:dent

Wikipedia ^nrf

Etymology

From Old French dent, from Latin dēns, dentem, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃dénts, *h₃dónts.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Jersey):

  (file)

Noun

dent m (plural dents)

1. (anatomy) tooth

Derived terms

• brînge à dents (“toothbrush”)

Related terms

• denchive (“gum”)

Occitan

Etymology

From Latin dentem m. Attested from the 12th century.^[1] Compare Catalan dent f.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Béarn):

  (file)

Noun

dent f (plural dents)

1. tooth

Related terms

• dentada
• dentadura
• dental
• dentar
• dentari
• dentat
• dentejar
• dentista

References

1. Diccionari General de la Lenga Occitana, L’Academia occitana – Consistòri del Gai Saber, 2008-2024, page 185.

Old French

Etymology

From Latin dēns, dente m.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdent/, /ˈdant/
• Rhymes: -ent

Noun

dent oblique singular, m (oblique plural denz or dentz, nominative singular denz or dentz, nominative plural dent)

1. (anatomy, of a comb) tooth

Descendants

• Middle French: dent f
  • French: dent f
• Walloon: dint f

Piedmontese

Etymology

From Latin dēns, dentem, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃dénts, *h₃dónts.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɛŋt/

Noun

dent m (plural dent)

1. tooth

Derived terms

• dentin
• denton
• dentera
• dentista

Romansch

Alternative forms

• daint (Sutsilvan, Surmiran, Puter, Vallader)

Etymology

From Latin dēns, dentem, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃dénts, *h₃dónts.

Noun

dent m (plural dents)

1. (anatomy, Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan) tooth

Derived terms

• pasta da dents (“toothpaste”)