wisp

Meaning

Noun

1. (countable, uncountable) A small bundle, as of straw or other like substance; any slender, flexible structure or group.
2. (countable, uncountable) A whisk, or small broom.
3. (countable, uncountable) A will o' the wisp, or ignis fatuus.
4. (countable, uncountable) An immeasurable, indefinable essence of life; soul.
5. (archaic, countable, uncountable) A flock of snipe.
6. (uncountable) A disease affecting the feet of cattle.

Verb

1. (transitive) To brush or dress, as with a wisp.
2. (UK, dialectal, obsolete) To rumple.
3. (intransitive) To produce a wisp, as of smoke.
4. (transitive) To emit in wisps.

Synonyms

tuft

bunch

bundle

scrap

tussock

shred

sheaf

faggot

fagot

fascicle

fine

flash

forelock

handful

light

little

lock

🔒

lowercase

minor

pack

packet

panache

patch

piece

pompon

puff

small

small-scale

smithereens

splash

spray

sprig

strand

swad

tassel

tiny

toothpick

twist

whisk

wreath

little piece

a lock of hair

small bundle

ball

bright wisp

beam

bind

brush

crest

dossier

Translations

Strohbündel

Wisch

mechón

🔒

tutam

Haarbüschel

άχυρο

touffe

brizna

sliert

jirón

brin

manciata

tufo

fétu

Bündel

Pronounced as (IPA)

/wɪsp/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: wispe

Inherited from Old English: *wisp

Cognate with Western Frisian: wisp

Cognate with Dutch: wisp

Cognate with Middle Dutch: -

Cognate with Middle Low German: wispel

In summary

From Middle English wispe, wyspe, wips, wipse, perhaps from an unrecorded Old English *wisp, *wips. Cognate with West Frisian wisp, Dutch wisp (“bundle of hay or straw”), Norwegian bokmål/Swedish/Bornholm Danish visp (“handful or bundle of grass, hay, etc.”). Akin also to Middle Dutch/Middle Low German wispel (“measure of grain”).