A small pointed stick used to remove food stuck between the teeth.
Compound word from 'tooth' (Old English 'tōth') and 'pick' (from Old English, meaning to poke or select). The compound is relatively modern, dating to the 1600s.
Toothpicks became wildly fashionable in Renaissance Europe as a sign of having eaten so much fancy food that you had leftovers in your teeth—using one in public was actually showing off your wealth! Now we use them casually, forgetting they were once status symbols.
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