Tartar

From Old French Tartaire, from Medieval Latin Tartarus (“Tartar, Mongol”), from Old Turkic Tatar‎ (Tatar), spelling influenced by Latin Tartarus (“Hell (in Greek mythology)”), from Ancient Greek Τάρταρος (Tártaros).

Tartar (plural Tartars)

1. Alternative spelling of Tatar
2. A member of the various tribes and their descendants of Tartary, such as Turks, Mongols and Manchus.
   • Marco Polo, Henry Yule, The Travels of Marco Polo, book 1, chapter 13:

     Persia is a great country, which was in old times very illustrious and powerful; but now the Tartars have wasted and destroyed it.

3. (figuratively, dated) A person of a keen, irritable temper.

Tartar (comparative more Tartar, superlative most Tartar)

1. Of or relating to the people or culture of Tartars.

   Tartar customs

From Armenian Թարթառ (Tʿartʿaṙ).

Tartar

1. One of the tributaries of the Kura River, mostly flowing through the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

Old French Tartar.

Tartar m (plural Tartars)

1. Tartar (member of various Turkic tribes)

• French: Tartare

• Tartar on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330-1500) (in French)