tart

¹ American  

[tahrt] / tɑrt /

adjective

tarter, tartest

1. sharp to the taste; sour or acid.

   Tart apples are best for pie.

   Synonyms:

   piquant, acrid, astringent

   Antonyms:

   mellow, bland, sugary, sweet

2. sharp in character, spirit, or expression; cutting; biting.

   a tart remark.

   Synonyms:

   acrimonious, acerbic, caustic, barbed, sarcastic

   Antonyms:

   benign, gracious, gentle, kind, sweet

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tart ² American  

[tahrt] / tɑrt /

noun

1. a small pie filled with cooked fruit or other sweetened preparation, usually having no top crust.

2. a covered pie containing fruit or the like.

3. Slang. a prostitute or sexually promiscuous woman.

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verb phrase

1. tart up to adorn, dress, or decorate, especially in a flamboyant manner.

   The old restaurant was tarted up to look like a Viennese café.

tart ¹ British  

/ tɑːt /

adjective

1. (of a flavour, food, etc) sour, acid, or astringent

2. cutting, sharp, or caustic

   a tart remark

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tart ² British  

/ tɑːt /

noun

1. a pastry case often having no top crust, with a sweet or savoury filling

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tart ³ British  

/ tɑːt /

noun

1. informal a promiscuous woman, esp a prostitute: often a term of abuse See also tart up

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Other Word Forms

• tartish adjective
• tartishly adverb
• tartly adverb
• tartness noun
• tarty adjective

Etymology

Origin of tart¹

First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English teart “sharp, rough”; akin to Dutch tarten “to defy,” Middle High German traz “defiance”

Origin of tart²

First recorded in 1350–1400; 1905–10 tart ² for def. 3; Middle English tarte, from Middle French; compare Medieval Latin tarta

Explanation

A tart is small pie filled with fruit or custard, with no top crust, like the cherry tarts you bought at the bakery. As an adjective, tart describes a sour taste, like lemon, or harsh words, like your friend's tart reply to a question that makes her mad. In the 19th century, tart was British slang for "pretty woman." Some believe it is a shortening of "sweetheart." But by the end of that century, tart described a prostitute, something many language scholars trace back to the tart that you get at the bakery.

Example Sentences

He said Crook's latest series is "quite incisive, it's not dreamy, he writes very funny lines, very tart and quite sardonic in their way".

From BBC • Feb. 10, 2026

Goldenberries are mostly grown in South America and are becoming more popular because of their nutrition and their balance of sweet and tart flavors.

From Science Daily • Jan. 11, 2026

You get a polite dotting of fruit, sure, but rarely that jammy, tart little thrum that only arrives when berries are given permission to fully collapse into themselves.

From Salon • Dec. 16, 2025

Not so with “Burt,” the movie equivalent of a cherry sour drop on a day when you need something a little tart, a tad sweet and that won’t outstay its welcome.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 12, 2025

She was so surprised, she gave them each a cream tart as a reward.

From "The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm" by Nancy Farmer