Standard Lemma guide

wavelet

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A small wave; a ripple.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • 1851, “Speaker’s Meaning dimly descried” (Fragment) in Poems, London: William Pickering, p. 110, I know not whether I see your meaning: if I do, it lies Upon the wordy wavelets of your voice, Dim as an evening shadow in a brook, When the least moon has silver on’t no larger Than the pure white of Hebe’s nail.
  • 1856, Herman Melville, “The Piazza” in The Piazza Tales, New York: Dix & Edwards, pp. 6-7, [...] long ground-swells roll the slanting grain, and little wavelets of grass ripple over upon the low piazza, as their beach, and the blown down of dandelions is wafted like the spray [...]

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A fast-decaying oscillation.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: mathematics, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

a small wave on the surface of a liquid

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: ripple, rippling, riffle

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: wave, moving ridge

History

Etymology

From wave + -let; a calque of French ondelette, from onde (“wave”) + -ette (diminutive suffix).

Across languages

Translations

29 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: вълничка (vǎlnička) — a small wave; a ripple
  • Catalan: ondulació — a small wave; a ripple
  • Chinese Mandarin: 小浪 (xiǎolàng) — a small wave; a ripple
  • Finnish: kare — a small wave; a ripple
  • Finnish: liplatus — a small wave; a ripple
  • French: vaguelette — a small wave; a ripple
  • German: Wellchen — a small wave; a ripple
  • Hungarian: hullámocska — a small wave; a ripple
  • Irish: druga — a small wave; a ripple
  • Manx: tonnane — a small wave; a ripple
  • Russian: зыбь (zybʹ) — a small wave; a ripple
  • Russian: рябь (rjabʹ) — a small wave; a ripple
  • Spanish: perturbación — a small wave; a ripple
  • Ukrainian: бри́жі (brýži) — a small wave; a ripple
  • Basque: uhinxka — a fast-decaying oscillation
  • Bulgarian: затихваща осцилация (zatihvašta oscilacija) — a fast-decaying oscillation
  • Catalan: ondeta — a fast-decaying oscillation
  • Chinese Mandarin: 小波 (xiǎobō) — a fast-decaying oscillation
  • Czech: vlnka — a fast-decaying oscillation
  • Finnish: aalloke — a fast-decaying oscillation
  • French: ondelette — a fast-decaying oscillation
  • German: Wavelet — a fast-decaying oscillation
  • Greek: κυματίδιο (kymatídio) — a fast-decaying oscillation
  • Italian: wavelet — a fast-decaying oscillation
  • Korean: 웨이블릿 (weibeullit) — a fast-decaying oscillation
  • Polish: falka — a fast-decaying oscillation
  • Russian: ве́йвлет (véjvlet) — a fast-decaying oscillation
  • Ukrainian: ве́йвлет (véjvlet) — a fast-decaying oscillation
  • Welsh: tonnell — a fast-decaying oscillation