سِوَاكٌ

and ↓ مِسْوَاكٌ signify the same; (S, Mgh, O, Msb, K;) i. e. A tooth-stick; a piece of stick with which the teeth are rubbed [and cleaned, the end being made like a brush by beating or chewing it so as to separate the fibres]; (K, * TA;) [commonly] a piece of stick of the [kind of tree called] أَرَاك: (Msb:) according to IDrd, derived from سُكْتُ الشَّىْءَ meaning “ I rubbed, or rubbed well, the thing; ” (O, Msb;) according to IF, from تساوكت الإِبِلُ [explained above]: (Msb:) according to Lth, (T, TA,) سِوَاكٌ is masculine and feminine, (IDrd, T, M, O, K,) though it is the more approvable way to make it masculine; (O;) but Az holds this to be a mistake, and the word to be masculine [only]; and Hr says that this assertion of Lth is one of his foul mistakes: (TA:) its plural is سُوُكٌ (S, O, Msb, K) and سُوْكٌ (Az, TA) and سُوءُكٌ, (AHn, TA,) and [of pauc.] أَسْوِكَةٌ; and the plural of ↓ مِسْوَاكٌ is مَسَاوِيكُ. (TA.) In the saying, in a tradition, خَيْرُ خِلَالِ الصَّايءِمِ السِّوَاكُ, a prefixed n. is [said to be] suppressed [so that the meaning is The best of the habits, or customs, of the faster is the use of the tooth-stick: but see 2, where سِوَاكٌ is said, on the authority of the Msb, to be also a verbal noun].