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whet

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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WOTD – 16 April 2026
A knife being whetted (verb sense 1.1) on a whetstone.

Etymology

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The verb is derived from Middle English whetten (“to make the edge of (a sword, tool, etc.) sharp; to grunt, snort; to scrape the ground with (one’s feet); to make a chattering or grinding sound; (figurative) of a person: to prepare for battle; to make (one’s wit) alert or keen; to strengthen (one’s heart or will); to incite, provoke”),[1] from Old English hwettan (“to sharpen, whet; (figurative) to encourage, incite”),[2] from Proto-West Germanic *hwattjan (“to sharpen, whet”), from Proto-Germanic *hwatjaną (“to sharpen, whet; (figurative) to incite, instigate”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷeh₁d- (“sharp”).[3]

Verb sense 1.3.3 (“to inculcate or teach (habits, information, etc.)”) is from Deuteronomy 6:6–7 in the Bible (New International Version): “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children.” The word translated as impress is Hebrew שָׁנַן (shanán, “to be sharp; to sharpen, whet”).[3]

The noun is derived from the verb.[4]

cognates

Pronunciation

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Verb

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whet (third-person singular simple present whets, present participle whetting, simple past and past participle whetted or whet)

  1. (transitive)
    2. To sharpen (something, such as a knife or sword) by rubbing on an object, especially a whetstone; to hone.
      Synonyms: steel, strop
    3. Of an animal such as a boar: to sharpen (its horns, teeth, tusks, etc.) by rubbing on a stone, etc., in preparation for an attack.
    4. (figurative)
      1. To make more keen or to stimulate (someone's appetite, interest, etc.); to hone, to sharpen.
        Synonyms: rouse; see also Thesaurus:thrill
        to whet one's appetite or one's courage
      2. (obsolete) To encourage (someone) to do something; to incite, to urge.
      4. (obsolete) To inculcate or teach (habits, information, etc.).
        Synonyms: see Thesaurus:incite
      5. (obsolete, rare) Of a bird: to preen (its feathers).
        Synonyms: primp, smarten up
  2. (intransitive, figurative)
    1. To make more keen; to stimulate.
    2. To prepare for an attack.
    3. (obsolete) To consume drink or food as an appetizer.

Conjugation

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Conjugation of whet
infinitive (to) whet
present tense past tense
1st-person singular whet whetted
2nd-person singular whet, whettest† whetted, whettedst†
3rd-person singular whets, whetteth† whetted
plural whet
subjunctive whet whetted
imperative whet —
participles whetting whetted

† Archaic or obsolete.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Noun

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whet (plural whets)

  1. An act of sharpening something by rubbing on an object, especially a whetstone.
  2. (by extension, archaic except UK, dialectal)
    1. An occasion to do something; a go, a turn.
    2. A period of time between two sharpenings of a scythe.
  3. (figurative)
    1. An item of drink or food consumed as an appetizer or to ward off hunger until a meal; specifically, a small amount of liquor drunk as an appetizer; a dram, a nip.
      • 1714 July 30 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “MONDAY, July 19, 1714”, in The Spectator, number 569; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume VI, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:
        sips, drams, and whets
        The spelling has been modernized.
      • 1769, Elizabeth Raffald, The Experienced English Housekeeper:
        To make a nice Whet before Dinner […]
    2. A thing which makes one's desire, interest, etc., more keen; an incitement, an inducement.
      • 1902, Robert Marshall Grade, The Haunted Major:
        A really good game, to my mind, must have an element, however slight, of physical danger to the player. This is the great whet to skilled performance.

Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ “whetten, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ Joseph Bosworth (1882), “hwettan”, in T[homas] Northcote Toller, editor, An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 575, column 1.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 “whet, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2026; “whet, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  4. ^ “whet, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2025; “whet, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

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Middle English

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Noun

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whet

  1. alternative form of whete

Yola

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Etymology

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From Middle English whet, from Old English hwǣte, from Proto-West Germanic *hwaitī.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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whet

  1. wheat

References

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  • Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 78
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