ivory

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The hard, smooth, white substance that forms the tusks of elephants

   The piano keys were once made of ivory.

2. 2
   noun

   A creamy white colour, like that of bleached bone

   The walls were painted a soft ivory.

3. 3
   adj

   Having the creamy white colour of ivory

   She wore an ivory dress to the wedding.

From Middle English yvory, ivorie, from Anglo-Norman ivurie, from Latin eboreus (“in or of ivory”) adjective of ebur (“ivory”) (genitive eboris), from Demotic Egyptian yb (“ivory, Elephantine”) (compare Coptic ⲓⲏⲃ (iēb, “Elephantine”)), from Egyptian ꜣbw (“elephant, ivory, Elephantine”), from Proto-Afroasiatic *leb-. Displaced native Old English elpendbān (literally “elephant bone”).

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