tart

1 of 2

adjective

ˈtärt 

1

: agreeably sharp or acid to the taste

a tart apple

2

: marked by a biting, acrimonious, or cutting quality

a tart rejoinder

tartish

ˈtär-tish 

adjective

tartly adverb

tartness noun

tart

2 of 2

noun

1

: a dish baked in a pastry shell : pie: such as

a

: a small pie or pastry shell without a top containing jelly, custard, or fruit

b

: a small pie made of pastry folded over a filling

2

a

: a promiscuous woman : a woman who has many sexual partners

b

: prostitute

Synonyms

Adjective

• acid
• acidic
• acidulous
• sour
• sourish
• tartish
• vinegary

Noun

• bawd
• call girl
• cocotte
• courtesan
• drab
• hooker
• hustler
• prostitute
• sex worker
• streetwalker
• whore

Examples of tart in a Sentence

Adjective

The wine is rather tart.

The comedian responded to the heckler with a tart comeback.

I didn't add enough sugar to the lemonade, and now it's way too tart.

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

Get The Recipe 17 of 50 Aperol and Blood Orange-Mint Spritz This tart drink has bold color thanks to the blood oranges. —Mary Shannon Wells, Southern Living, 11 Apr. 2024

Get the recipe > Sorrel Not to be confused with the tart leafy green of the same name, this beverage is made from hibiscus. —Saveur Editors, Saveur, 11 Apr. 2024

The bright yellow candle has three layers of fragrance notes: lemon zest, tart lemon, and vanilla and sugar. —Isabel Garcia, Peoplemag, 10 Apr. 2024

The cure set up nicely and the tart shell was a hit! —Sarah Martens, Better Homes & Gardens, 4 Apr. 2024

The three favorites were Savannah, who made a chicken liver mousse with a Panzanella salad dressed with Bing cherry vinaigrette; Rasika, who impressed with balanced tart cherry onions with charred pepper relish; and Kévin, who made a beef tenderloin with poêle of cherries and black garlic. —Rachel Bernhard, Journal Sentinel, 3 Apr. 2024

Though Santo now serves the dish with flatbread, at the time of my visit, a fluffy rich brioche made the perfect vessel for the savory beans and tart goat cheese. —The Arizona Republic, 26 Feb. 2024

That culture then produces lactic acid, which causes the milk protein to thicken into a creamy, slightly tart mixture. —Genevieve Ko, San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 Feb. 2024

And Rhubarb, as in this delicious EDP from Perfumer H, is one of his favorite expressions of the tart veggie, in this case paired with red fruits, rose water, and cedar. —Adam Hurly, Robb Report, 21 Mar. 2024

Noun

Tradition has it that the nun wanted to capture the orange fragrance from the convent gardens in her tart. —Florence Fabricant, New York Times, 27 Mar. 2024

But Ayatana doesn’t just look good, everything tastes delicious too—from the refreshing matcha Khao Lam affogato, to the decadent mango sticky rice tart. —Isabelle Kliger, Vogue, 4 Feb. 2024

The cocktails are Big City good, and dessert includes a fine apple tart. —Tom Sietsema, Washington Post, 26 Mar. 2024

The Strawberry Forest Pie, tart with jammy berries and rich with a thick chocolate pudding layer, is a draw for those who adore the flavors of traditional Black Forest gateau. —Defne Karabatur, Los Angeles Times, 14 Mar. 2024

Menu highlights include molten lava cake, tiramisu, raspberry lemon drop cake, a key lime tart and a dessert flight with four mousses. —The Arizona Republic, 16 Feb. 2024

The bakery makes three styles of the egg tarts, including crispy, original and Portuguese. —Jenn Harris, Los Angeles Times, 13 Mar. 2024

Their standard menu includes cakes, cupcakes, cookies, frozen treats and pastries such as muffins, cinnamon rolls and pop tarts. —The Arizona Republic, 4 Mar. 2024

The clusters of bright orange berries are sweet, bitter, and tart, and also full of vitamins. —Kristin Guy, Sunset Magazine, 1 Mar. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Adjective

Middle English, from Old English teart sharp, severe; akin to Middle High German traz spite

Noun

Middle English tart, tarte, borrowed from Anglo-French tarte (also continental Old French), probably altered from Old French torte, tourte "round loaf," going back to Late Latin tōrta, probably alteration of Latin torta "curved, bent, coiled, twisted," from feminine of tortus, past participle of torquēre "to twist tightly, wind"; (sense 2) earlier, in argot or slang of England, Australia, and New Zealand, "girlfriend," perhaps short for jam tart, rhyming slang for sweetheart — more at torture entry 1

Note: Late Latin <torta> is first attested in several passages of the Vulgate, once as <tortam panis> (with pānis in the genitive). The connection to tortus, an adjective meaning "coiled," would seem natural applied to a round loaf of bread, presumably formable by coiling the dough. French tourte, however, as well as Italian torta (with /o/, not /ɔ/), have the reflex of ō rather than ŏ, a change for which no completely acceptable explanation has been found. J. Coromines (Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico) sees Late Latin tōrta as originally the plural of a neuter *tōrtum, borrowed from Greek *tōrtídion, formed by crasis from tò artídion, a diminutive of ártos "bread"; though not impossible, the etymology depends crucially on multiple unattested forms. — French tarte would appear to be a modification of to(u)rte. It is attested with a variant tartre in late Old French and modern French dialects, and parallel words can be found in Italian: tartara (13th century) "cake made with almonds and sugar," Upper Italian tartra (Piedmont), tártera (Milan), tartra (Parma). These forms have been attributed to the influence of Medieval Latin tartarum "bitartrate of potassium" (see tartar entry 1), the crusts of which, formed in wine casks, would supposedly have had a likeness to crusts of bread or pastry.

First Known Use

Adjective

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing tart

• tart up

Kids Definition

tart

1 of 2 adjective

ˈtärt 

1

: pleasantly sharp or sour to the taste

2

: having a sharp or biting quality

a tart voice

tartly adverb

tartness noun

tart

2 of 2 noun

: a small pie or pastry shell containing jelly, custard, or fruit