toothpick

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a small thin pointed stick used to remove food from between the teeth

   He used a wooden toothpick after the meal.

A compound of tooth + pick, literally a small pointed implement for cleaning between the teeth. Tooth comes from Old English toth; pick in the tool sense denotes a pointed implement and is related to pike and peak. The compound has been used since late Middle English.

Topics

External links

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary
• Google Images