Ivory

How to spell ivory

5 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce ivory

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does ivory mean?

1. nounThe hard, creamy-white substance that forms the tusks of elephants and some other animals.
2. adjectiveOf a creamy off-white colour resembling that of tusks.

Ivory in a sentence

• noun

  The antique chess set was carved from ivory and dark wood.

• adjective

  She chose an ivory dress for the wedding instead of pure white.

• noun

  Trade in ivory is banned to protect elephants from poaching.

• adjective

  The walls were painted a soft ivory to brighten the room.

Where does ivory come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin ebur, which meant the hard, creamy-white substance taken from the tusks of elephants. Latin passed it into Old French, where it took shapes such as ivurie and ivoire, and English borrowed it during the 1200s. The shift from the Latin 'eb-' sound to the English 'iv-' spelling happened through the softening that French gave the word on its journey, which is why the modern English form looks little like its classical ancestor. By extension the word came to name the pale, off-white colour of the material itself, and later the white keys of a piano were nicknamed 'the ivories'. The tricky part for spellers is the unstressed ending, which sounds like a vague '-ree' but is written '-ory'.

How the word is built

• ivor- (from Latin ebur, the hard white substance of tusks)
• -y (noun/adjective suffix)