Word.ws English Dictionary

turtle

UK/ˈtɜːtl̩//ˈtɝtl̩/

turtle noun: any land, aquatic, or semi-aquatic reptile of the order Testudines, characterised by a protective shell enclosing its body. See also tortoise. Also the ellipsis of turtle head.

turtle: any land, aquatic, or semi-aquatic reptile of the order Testudines, characterised by a protective...
Image: Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

turtle (plural turtles)

  1. (Canada, US) Any land, aquatic, or semi-aquatic reptile of the order Testudines, characterised by a protective shell enclosing its body. See also tortoise.
    • A unique anti-aphrodisiac was the heart of a turtle carried in a wolf's skin. It prevented a person from ever being tempted amorously.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 238
    1. (Australia, Canada, UK, US, specifically) A marine reptile of that order.
  2. Senses resembling a turtle in protection
    1. (historical) An Ancient Roman attack method, where the shields held by the soldiers hide them, not only left, right, front and back, but also from above.
  3. A type of robot having a domed case (and so resembling the reptile), used in education, especially for making line drawings by means of a computer program.
  4. An on-screen cursor that serves the same function as a turtle for drawing.
    • Depending on which version of Logo you have, the turtle may look like an actual animal with a head and four legs or — as in Berkeley Logo — it may be represented as a triangle.1997, Brian Harvey, Computer Science Logo Style: Symbolic computing
  5. A breakdancing move consisting of a float during which the dancer's weight shifts from one hand to the other, producing rotation or a circular "walk".
  6. A position reminiscent of a turtle.
    • At home the child can have a simple horizontal bar on which he may swing by his hands. He may also use dumb-bells and clubs. A very valuable position is what may be called the "turtle position." The patient lies prone upon the face, with the arms extended, and with the head carried upward and...1893, De Forrest Willard, M.D., “Lateral Curvature”, in The American Lancet, volume 17, page 210
    • A front somersault as executed in the water is basically the same type of movement as that executed in tumbling activities. A front somersault can be executed with the body in a tuck (turtle position) or pike (knees straight, body bent at hips so feet are near head) position, in shallow or deep...1957, Doris Layson Bullock, “Skills in the Water”, in Journal of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, volume 28, page 28
  7. A position in which a person drops down all fours, limbs and chin tucked in, to protect their core.
  8. A low stand for a lamp, etc.
    • Alan Bermingham, Location Lighting for Television
      Using an appropriate turtle allows the full range of pan and tilt adjustments on the luminaire and avoids possible heat damage to floor coverings.
  9. (genericized trademark) A candy with pecans, caramel, and chocolate, often shaped like a turtle.
  10. (historical) The curved plate in which the form is held in a type-revolving cylinder press.
  11. Senses resembling a turtle in slowness
    1. A small element towards the end of a list of items to be bubble sorted, and thus tending to take a long time to be swapped into its correct position.

Verb

turtle (third-person singular simple present turtles, present participle turtling, simple past and past participle turtled)

  1. (intransitive) To flip over onto the back or top; to turn upside down.
    • Were speeding when car turtled […] Auto crashed into curb and turtled.1919, Iowa Highway Commission, Service Bulletin, Issues 15-32, page 48
    1. (intransitive) To turn and swim upside down.
      • I turtled my board beneath it, flipped upright, and started paddling again.2009, Amy Waeschle, Chasing Waves: A Surfer's Tale of Obsessive Wandering, page 149
    2. (intransitive) To capsize, turning fully over.
    3. (intransitive) To fall with one arm behind a rope, forcing the climber to dangle on their back, leaving them helpless.
  2. (intransitive) To move along slowly.
    • We turtled along in Manitoba, back into the heart of the prairies.2012, Sophie B. Watson, Cadillac Couches, page 193
  3. (intransitive) To hunt turtles, especially in the water.
    • Of these, 80 turtled (65%), 26 hunted and turtled (20%), and 18 hunted (15%).1973, Bernard Nietschmann, Between Land and Water: The Subsistence Ecology of the Miskito Indians, page 153
  4. (intransitive, board games) To build up a large defense force and strike only occasionally, rather than going for an offensive strategy.

Noun (2)

turtle (plural turtles)

  1. (archaic, intransitive) A turtle dove.
    • The same he tooke, and with a riband new, / In which his Ladies colours were, did bind / About the turtles neck […].1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
    • As the turtle, every day has been a black day with her since her husband died, and what should we unruly members make here?1613, John Marston, William Barksted, The Insatiate Countess, I.1

Noun (3)

turtle (plural turtles)

  1. (intransitive) A turtle-neck garment.

Proper noun capitalized: Turtle

Turtle

  1. A river in Saskatchewan, Canada.
  2. An extinct town in Dent County, Missouri, United States.
  3. A town in Rock County, Wisconsin, United States.
  4. A surname, thought to be derived from the turtle dove.

Noun (4) capitalized: Turtle

Turtle (plural Turtles)

  1. A member of the Ancient and Honorable Order of Turtles, a drinking club.

Also used as

turtle is also the ellipsis of turtle head.

turtle meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

turtle in Hindi

land or marine reptile with a shell
कछुआ kachuā

turtle in Tamil

land or marine reptile with a shell
ஆமை āmai

turtle in Marathi

land or marine reptile with a shell
कासव kāsav

turtle in Urdu

land or marine reptile with a shell
کَچُھوا kachuā
More languagesFewer languages
turtle in Bengali
কাছিম kachim, কাটুয়া kaṭuẏa
turtle in Telugu
తాబేలు tābēlu
turtle in Malayalam
ആമ
turtle in Kannada
ಆವೆ āve, ಆಮೆ āme
turtle in Punjabi
ਕੱਛੂ, ਕੱਛੂਆ
turtle in Gujarati
કાચબો, ટર્ટલ, કાચબા
turtle in Odia
କଇଁଛ, କଚ୍ଛପ
turtle in Sanskrit
कच्छप kacchapa
turtle in Sinhala
කැස්බෑවා kæsbǣwā
turtle in Assamese
কাছ kaso
turtle in Nepali
कछुवा, कछुआ, कच्छप
turtle in Pashto
کيشپ kišáp, شمشتى šamšatáy
turtle in Tagalog
pagong, pawikan
turtle in Arabic
سُلَحْفَاة sulaḥfāh, غَيْلَم ḡaylam
turtle in Malay
tuntung, labi-labi, penyu, akah
turtle in Indonesian
penyu
turtle in Thai
เต่า dtào
turtle in Vietnamese
rùa
turtle in Myanmar
လိပ် lip
Kashmiri
کرٕٛم

Examples of turtle in a sentence

  • The scientist attached a pinger to the carapace of the sea turtle to track its migration.
  • People tend to lump turtles and tortoises together, when in fact they are different creatures.
  • Some turtles use their claw flutter as a means of communication, particularly in mating.

All 40 example sentences with turtle

Synonyms of turtle

5 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of turtle

Forms of turtle

Noun
pluralturtles
pluralTurtles
alternative form (obsolete)tortle
Verb
third-person singular presentturtles
present participleturtling
past participleturtled
pastturtled

Plural of turtle: turtles

Origin of turtle

Modification of Middle English tortou, tortu, from Old French tortüe (under the influence of Middle English turtel, turtur (“turtledove”), see Etymology 2 below), from Old Occitan tortuga (compare Spanish tortuga), the same source of tortoise (see there for more). Displaced native Old English byrdling (See birdling).

From Middle English turtle, tortle, turtel, turtul, from Old English turtle, turtla (“turtledove”), ultimately from Latin turtur (“turtledove”), of imitative origin.

Ellipsis of turtle-neck

Words formed from turtle

Phrases with turtle

113 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with turtle

Questions about turtle

What does turtle mean?
Turtle means any land, aquatic, or semi-aquatic reptile of the order Testudines, characterised by a protective shell enclosing its body. See also tortoise.
What is turtle in Hindi?
Turtle in Hindi is कछुआ (kachuā). See Turtle meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is turtle?
Turtle can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce turtle?
Turtle is pronounced /ˈtɜːtl̩/ (UK).
What is the plural of turtle?
The plural of turtle is turtles.

Words near turtle in the dictionary

  1. turt
  2. turtan
  3. turtans
  4. turtanu
  5. turtanus
  6. turtle
  7. turtle ant
  8. turtle ants
  9. turtle bean
  10. turtle crab
  11. turtle crawl

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: turtle (page history and authors); Turtle (page history and authors); turtle (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); turtle (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); turtle (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); turtle (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); turtle (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-turtle.ogg, en-au-turtle.ogg.

Cite this entry: “turtle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/turtle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.