whittle
Meaning
-
A knife; especially, a clasp knife, pocket knife, or sheath knife.
Synonyms
Frequency
Pronounced as (IPA)
/ˈʍɪtəl/
Etymology
In summary
From Middle English whittel (“large knife”), an alteration of thwitel, itself from thwiten (“to whittle”), from Old English þwītan (“to strike down, whittle”), from Proto-Germanic *þwītaną, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *twey- (“to shake, hurl, toss”). Compare Old Norse þveita (“to hurl”), Ancient Greek σείω (seíō, “I shake”). Related to thwite and thwaite.
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Notes