What does tine mean?
Tine is a precise word for a pointed prong or tooth, most often one of the projecting points of a fork. It can also describe a tooth of a plough, harrow, rake, or comparable tool, so the word combines the familiarity of kitchen and garden utensils with a more technical agricultural vocabulary. When people say that a fork has several tines, they mean the separate sharpened arms that hold food or serve it; these are more specifically described as prongs in ordinary conversation. Tine is consequently less common than fork or prong, but it is useful when precision matters. The related verb, to tine, means to pierce or cut with a tine, though it is rare and chiefly belongs to practical or technical writing. Its Old English ancestry gives it a long history as a name for the tooth of a comb and other pointed implements.
A pointed prong or tooth, especially one of the points of a fork or the cutting blade of a plough; also a tooth of a rake or similar implement.
"The tines of the old fork were bent and uneven."
To pierce or cut with a tine.
"The blade was carefully tined before the soil was worked."
The standard plural is tines, as in the tines of a fork.
"Several of the tines on the rake had come loose."
The word tine reaches back to Old English, where it already named the tooth of a comb—an everyday tool word with a surprisingly technical afterlife.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does tine come from?
Tine descends from Old English tīne, meaning a tooth, prong, or pointed part of an implement. The word is generally traced to a Germanic root represented by related forms in languages such as Old Norse and Dutch. That root is commonly connected with an Indo-European family associated with splitting or cleaving, which also underlies Latin dens, meaning tooth, and English words such as dental and dentist.
Related word forms
How tine is actually used
As a noun, tine is mainly used for the individual points of a fork or the teeth of agricultural and mechanical tools; prong is more common in general speech. The verb is uncommon and has a specialized, practical register.