Detartrate

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Strips away the hard tartar or mineral deposits that build up on something such as teeth or the inside of a boiler
2. Scrapes or dissolves away the crusty scale left behind by minerals, especially on teeth or in heating equipment
3. Clears off the chalky crust of tartar or limescale that has collected on a surface over time

Etymology: Detartrate is a verb meaning to remove tartar, the hard mineral deposit that builds up on teeth, from a surface. The word is built in English from the prefix "de-", meaning "removal or reversal," attached to "tartrate," a chemical term for a salt or ester of tartaric acid. The prefix itself passes through Latin "dē," meaning "down, away from," before reaching English. Tartrate belongs to the chemistry of wine. Tartaric acid is found in grape juice, and its salts crystallise out of fermenting wine as the hard crust known as tartar, which is why the same substance turns up both in wine casks and in dentists' surgeries. "De-" in detartrate therefore reverses the buildup: the word describes the dental job of scraping away what the chemistry has deposited.

Synonyms: descale