whittle

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• /ˈwɪtəl/ Received Pronunciation, wine–whine merger
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• [ˈwɪthl̩] Received Pronunciation, wine–whine merger
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• Ireland, Scotland: /ˈʍɪtəl/ without the wine–whine merger
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• Ireland, Scotland: [ˈw̥ɪthl̩] without the wine–whine merger
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• /ˈwɪɾl̩/ General American, wine–whine merger
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• US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• /ˈʍɪɾl̩/ without the wine–whine merger
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• [ˈw̥ɪɾl̩] without the wine–whine merger
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• rhymes with -ɪtəl
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• CMU ARPABET: W IH1 T AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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• CMU ARPABET 2: HH W IH1 T AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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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.

From Middle English whytel, from Old English hwītel (“cloak, blanket”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwītil, from Proto-Germanic *hwītilaz, equivalent to white + -le; akin to Icelandic hvítill (“white bedcover, sheet, linen”).

58 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Bulgarian: касапски нож (kasapski nož) — knife
• Chinese Mandarin: 刻刀 (kèdao) — knife
• Dutch: (groot) mes — knife
• Finnish: leuku — knife
• Ancient Greek: ξυήλη (xuḗlē) — knife
• Hungarian: mészároskés — knife
• Hungarian: nagy kés — knife
• Hungarian: bicska — knife
• Polish: scyzoryk — knife
• Russian: большо́й нож (bolʹšój nož) — knife
• Bulgarian: дялам (djalam) — cut or shape wood with a knife
• Bulgarian: издялвам (izdjalvam) — cut or shape wood with a knife
• Chinese Mandarin: 削 (xiāo) — cut or shape wood with a knife
• Chinese Mandarin: 刻 (kè) — cut or shape wood with a knife
• Chinese Mandarin: 凿 (záo) — cut or shape wood with a knife
• Czech: ořezat — cut or shape wood with a knife
• Czech: ořezávat — cut or shape wood with a knife
• Czech: seříznout — cut or shape wood with a knife
• Czech: vyřezat — cut or shape wood with a knife
• Dutch: kerven — cut or shape wood with a knife
• Dutch: snijden — cut or shape wood with a knife
• Dutch: aanspitsen — cut or shape wood with a knife
• Finnish: vuolla — cut or shape wood with a knife
• Finnish: veistää — cut or shape wood with a knife
• French: tailler — cut or shape wood with a knife
• German: schnitzen — cut or shape wood with a knife
• Hungarian: farag — cut or shape wood with a knife
• Hungarian: kifarag — cut or shape wood with a knife
• Hungarian: faragcsál — cut or shape wood with a knife
• Hungarian: farigcsál — cut or shape wood with a knife
• Italian: intagliare — cut or shape wood with a knife
• Norwegian: spikke — cut or shape wood with a knife
• Polish: wystrugać — cut or shape wood with a knife
• Polish: wyrzeźbić — cut or shape wood with a knife
• Russian: выстру́гивать (vystrúgivatʹ) — cut or shape wood with a knife
• Russian: выреза́ть (vyrezátʹ) — cut or shape wood with a knife
• Spanish: tallar — cut or shape wood with a knife
• Swedish: karva — cut or shape wood with a knife
• Swedish: tälja — cut or shape wood with a knife
• Ukrainian: струга́ти (struháty) — cut or shape wood with a knife
• Ukrainian: ви́стругати (výstruhaty) — cut or shape wood with a knife
• Vietnamese: vót — cut or shape wood with a knife
• Vietnamese: gọt — cut or shape wood with a knife
• Czech: ořezat — reduce or gradually eliminate something
• Czech: zredukovat — reduce or gradually eliminate something
• Czech: snížit — reduce or gradually eliminate something
• Czech: omezit — reduce or gradually eliminate something
• Dutch: afknagen — reduce or gradually eliminate something
• Dutch: verminderen — reduce or gradually eliminate something
• Finnish: leikata — reduce or gradually eliminate something
• Finnish: karsia — reduce or gradually eliminate something
• German: wegschnibbeln — reduce or gradually eliminate something
• Hungarian: lefarag — reduce or gradually eliminate something
• Hungarian: megnyirbál — reduce or gradually eliminate something
• Hungarian: csökkent — reduce or gradually eliminate something
• Russian: уменьша́ть (umenʹšátʹ) — reduce or gradually eliminate something
• Russian: своди́ть на нет (svodítʹ na net) — reduce or gradually eliminate something
• Spanish: tallar — reduce or gradually eliminate something