kerf

Meaning

Noun

1. The act of cutting or carving something; a stroke or slice.
2. The groove or slit created by cutting or sawing something; an incision.
3. The portion or quantity (e.g. of wood, hay, turf, wool, etc.) removed or cut off in a given stroke.
4. The distance between diverging saw teeth.
5. The flattened, cut-off end of a branch or tree; a stump or sawn-off cross-section.

Verb

To cut a piece of wood or other material with several kerfs to allow it to be bent.

Synonyms

cut

lancing

incision

groove

knifing

mar

notch

score

scoring

scratch

scuffing

slash

slot

snick

traverse

slicing cutting

shear-out

joint-cutting

chipping

scratch marks

cut-off

dicing

Pronounced as (IPA)

/kɜː(ɹ)f/

Etymology

From Middle English kerf, kirf, kyrf, from Old English cyrf (“an act of cutting, a cutting off; a cutting instrument”), from Proto-West Germanic *kurbi, from Proto-Germanic *kurbiz (“a cut; notch; clipping”), from Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- (“to scratch”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Käärf, West Frisian kerf, Swedish korv. Related also to Dutch kerf, German Low German Karve, Karv, German Kerbe.