dental

US /ˈdɛn.təl/ UK /ˈdɛn.təl/ See IPA manual

Freq #7541

Meanings

1

adj
Relating to the teeth.

Good dental care includes brushing your teeth twice a day.
2

adj
Relating to the work of a dentist.

She is a dental student hoping to open her own clinic.

Thesaurus

Word family

Derived forms addentalalveolodentalantidentalapicodentalatlantodentalbidentalcraniodentaldentalcaredentalismdentalitydentalizedentally

Related forms dentistdentulousedentulous

Appears in

Phrases (2)

See all

Simplified etymology

Dental entered English in the late 16th century from the family of Latin dens “tooth.” Latin dens continues an ancient root also represented by Old English tooth and found in dentist, trident, and one of the two unrelated words indent.

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French dental or Late Latin dentālis, from dēns (“a tooth”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix).

*h₃ed- (bite) Proto-Indo-European dentālis la-lat

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# dental

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈdɛn.təl/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈdɛn.təl/
**Frequency rank:** 7541

## Meanings
1. Relating to the teeth.
2. Relating to the work of a dentist.

## Examples
- Good dental care includes brushing your teeth twice a day.
- She is a dental student hoping to open her own clinic.

## Derived Forms
- addental
- alveolodental
- antidental
- apicodental
- atlantodental
- bidental
- craniodental
- dentalcare
- dentalism
- dentality
- dentalize
- dentally

## Related Forms
- dentist
- dentulous
- edentulous

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *h₃ed- (bite)
- Root: dentālis

## Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French dental or Late Latin dentālis, from dēns (“a tooth”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix).

## AI Etymology
dental was borrowed from Middle French dental or Late Latin dentālis, from dēns (“a tooth”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix). The historical chain includes Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed- (bite), la-lat dentālis. Current senses include Relating to the teeth and Relating to the work of a dentist. English relatives and later formations include addental, alveolodental, antidental, dentist, dentulous.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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