Etymograph

English

gap-toothed

Gap-toothed comes from Middle English gap tothed.

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gap tothed
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1997gap-toothed

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gap tothed
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1997gap-toothed

Earliest quotation: 1997, Sharon R. Sherman, Documenting Ourselves: Film: “Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, another gap-toothed woman,…”

Formed from gap + toothed

Old Norse gap ‘an empty space, chasm’

Middle English gap ‘gap, opening’

English gap

The story

From Middle English gap tothed, gapt tothed (also gaptothe), alteration of earlier gat-tothed (literally “gate-toothed”), equivalent to gap + toothed.

Every English word from Middle English gap tothed

Today it means

adj Exhibiting a gap between the teeth, especially between the two upper central incisors.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Middle English gap tothed / gap-toothed

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