A cuspid is a pointed tooth designed for tearing food. You have four cuspids in your mouth, one on each side of your upper and lower jaws, positioned between your flat front teeth (incisors) and your grinding back teeth (molars). Dentists often call them canine teeth or simply canines because they're especially prominent in dogs and other carnivores.

Run your tongue along your teeth and you'll feel these sharper, more pointed teeth. They're slightly longer than your other front teeth and come to a point at the tip. When you bite into an apple or tear a piece of tough food, your cuspids do much of that work.

These teeth earned their name from their distinctive pointed shape, which looks like a small cusp or peak. While human cuspids are relatively modest, animals like lions, wolves, and even house cats have dramatically larger and sharper cuspids for capturing and tearing meat.