whisk

Meaning

Noun

1. A quick, light sweeping motion.
2. A kitchen utensil, now usually made from stiff wire loops fixed to a handle (and formerly of twigs), used for whipping (or a mechanical device with the same function).
3. A bunch of twigs or hair etc, used as a brush.
4. A small handheld broom with a small (or no) handle.
5. A plane used by coopers for evening chines.
6. A kind of cape, forming part of a woman's dress.

Verb

1. To move something with quick light sweeping motions.
2. In cooking, to whip e.g. eggs or cream.
3. To move something rapidly and with no warning.
4. To move lightly and nimbly.
5. To move whiskers.

Pronounced as (IPA)

/(h)wɪsk/

Etymology

From Middle English [Term?], from Old Norse visk, from Proto-Germanic *wiskaz, *wiskō (“bundle of hay, wisp”), from Proto-Indo-European *weys-.
Cognate with Danish visk, Dutch wis, German Wisch, Latin virga (“rod, switch”), viscus (“entrails”), Lithuanian vizgéti (“to tremble”), Czech věchet (“wisp of straw”), Sanskrit वेष्क (veṣka, “noose”). Compare also Old English wiscian (“to plait”), granwisc (“awn”).
The unetymological wh- is probably expressive of the sound; compare the same development in whip and onomatopoeias such as whack and whoosh.