razor

See also: Razor

English

a straight shaving razor

Alternative forms

• razour (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English rasour, from Old French rasour, from raser (“to scrape, to shave”). More at rat.

Displaced native Old English sċierseax (literally “shaving knife”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɹeɪzə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɹeɪzɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪzə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: ra‧zor

Noun

razor (plural razors)

1. A keen-edged knife of peculiar shape, used in shaving the hair from the face or other parts of the body.
2. Any tool or instrument designed for shaving.
3. The sharp tusk of a wild boar.
4. (philosophy) A conceptual device that allows one to shave away unlikely explanations for a phenomenon.

   Occam's razor, Hanlon's razor

Derived terms

Terms derived from razor (noun)

• Alder's razor
• Blore's razor
• cutthroat razor
• cut-throat razor
• disposable razor
• electric razor
• Gould's razor shell
• Hanlon's razor
• Hitchens' razor
• Hitchens's razor
• Occam's razor
• open razor
• razor and blades
• razor-backed
• razor-billed auk
• razor-billed curassow
• razor blade
• razor bump
• razor burn
• razor clam
• razor comb
• razor cream
• razor grass
• razor grinder
• razor paste
• razor sharp
• razor-sharp
• razor shell
• razor strap
• razor strop
• razor-thin
• razor thin
• razor wire
• razor-wired
• razory
• safety razor
• stepping razor
• straight razor

 

Translations

shaving knife

• Afrikaans: skeermes
• Albanian: brisk (sq) m
• Arabic: مُوسَى الْحِلَاقَة f (mūsā l-ḥilāqa), مُوس الْحِلَاقَة m (mūs al-ḥilāqa)

  Egyptian Arabic: موس m (mūs)

  Hijazi Arabic: موس m (mūs), موس حلاقة m (mūs ḥilāga)

  Moroccan Arabic: ززوار (zizwār), موس m (mūs)

• Aragonese: navalla f, corte
• Armenian: ածելի (hy) (aceli)
• Assamese: খুৰ (khur)
• Asturian: cháfara f, charrasca (ast) f, cheira f, cuchella f, gaxa f, navaya (ast) f
• Azerbaijani: ülgüc (az)
• Belarusian: бры́тва f (brýtva)
• Bengali: খুর (bn) (khur)
• Bulgarian: бръсна́ч m (brǎsnáč)
• Burmese: သင်တုန်းဓား (my) (sangtun:dha:)
• Catalan: navalla (ca) f, raor (ca) m
• Chechen: урс (urs)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 鬚刨／须刨 (sou¹ paau²), 剃鬚刀／剃须刀 (tai³ sou¹ dou¹)

  Mandarin: 剃刀 (zh) (tìdāo), 刮鬍刀／刮胡刀 (zh) (guāhúdāo)

• Coptic: ⲑⲟⲕ (thok)
• Cornish: alsen f, alten f
• Czech: břitva (cs) f
• Danish: kniv (da), barberkniv (da), skraber c
• Dutch: scheermes (nl) n, mes (nl) n
• Esperanto: razilo
• Estonian: habemenuga
• Evenki: хусивун (husiwun)
• Faroese: rakiblað n
• Finnish: partaveitsi (fi), partahöylä (fi)
• French: rasoir (fr) m
• Friulian: rasôr m, rosôr m, rasadôr m
• Galician: navalla (gl) f
• Georgian: სამართებელი (samartebeli)
• German: Rasiermesser (de) n, Rasierapparat (de) m, Rasierer (de) m
• Greek: ξυράφι (el) n (xyráfi), ξουράφι (el) n (xouráfi)

  Ancient: ξυρόν n (xurón)

• Haitian Creole: razwa
• Hebrew: תַעַר (he) m (ta'ar)
• Hindi: उस्तरा (hi) m (ustarā)
• Hungarian: borotva (hu)
• Icelandic: rakvél f
• Indonesian: pisau cukur (id)
• Irish: rásúr m
• Italian: rasoio (it) m
• Japanese: 剃刀 (ja) (かみそり, kamisori), レザー (rezā)
• Kazakh: ұстара (ūstara)
• Khmer: កាំបិតកោរ (kambət kao)
• Korean: 면도칼 (myeondokal)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: گوێزان (gwêzan)

  Northern Kurdish: gûzan (ku)

• Kyrgyz: устара (ky) (ustara)
• Lao: ມີດແຖ (lo) (mīt thǣ)
• Latin: novacula f
• Latvian: skuveklis m
• Laz: სკურაჶი (sǩurafi)
• Lithuanian: skustùvas m
• Macedonian: брич m (brič)
• Malay: pisau cukur
• Maori: mata heu
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: сахлын тонгорог (saxlyn tongorog)

• Nanai: посико (posiko)
• Norman: râseux m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: barberhøvel m

  Nynorsk: barberhøvel m

• Okinawan: 剃刀 (かんすい, kansui)
• Old English: sċierseax n
• Ottoman Turkish: اوستره (ustura), موسی (musa)
• Pashto: استرا f, پاکي (ps) f (pāki)
• Persian: استره (fa) (ostore)
• Plautdietsch: Schäamassa n
• Polish: brzytwa (pl) f
• Pontic Greek: ξυράφιν n (xyráfin)
• Portuguese: navalha (pt) f
• Romanian: brici (ro) n
• Russian: бри́тва (ru) f (brítva)
• Salar: yiligüş
• Sanskrit: क्षुर (sa) m (kṣurá)
• Sardinian: lesorja f, rasogia f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: брѝја̄ч m, бри̏тва f

  Roman: brìjāč (sh) m, brȉtva (sh) f

• Skolt Sami: friitv
• Slovak: britva f
• Slovene: britev (sl) f
• Spanish: navaja (es) f
• Swedish: rakkniv (sv) c
• Tajik: поку (poku), устура (ustura), теғ (teġ)
• Tashelhit: ⵜⴰⵙⵙⴳⵯⵔⵎⵜ f (tassgʷrmt)
• Tatar: бритва (britwa)
• Telugu: క్షురము (te) (kṣuramu)
• Thai: มีดโกน (th) (mîit-goon)
• Turkish: ustura (tr)
• Turkmen: pääki
• Udi: ништӏар (nišṭar)
• Ukrainian: бри́тва (uk) f (brýtva)
• Urdu: استرا m (ustarā)
• Uyghur: ئۇستۇرا (ustura)
• Uzbek: ustara (uz)
• Venetian: raxuro m, raxaór m, raxadór m
• Vietnamese: dao cạo (vi)
• Walloon: raezoe (wa) m, rabot (wa) m
• Welsh: ellyn m, rasel f, raser f
• Yiddish: גאָלמעסער m (golmeser)

shaving instrument

• Belarusian: бры́тва f (brýtva)
• Catalan: maquineta d'afaitar f, raor (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 剃刀 (zh) (tìdāo), 刮鬍刀／刮胡刀 (zh) (guāhúdāo)

• Cornish: alsen f, alten f
• Danish: barberhøvl c, skraber c
• Estonian: pardel (et)
• Finnish: partahöylä (fi), parranajokone (fi)
• French: rasoir (fr) m
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Rasierer (de) m
• Greek: ξυράφι (el) n (xyráfi), ξυραφάκι (el) n (xyrafáki)
• Hungarian: borotva (hu)
• Irish: rásúr m
• Japanese: 剃刀 (ja) (かみそり, kamisori)
• Korean: 면도기(面刀器) (ko) (myeondogi)
• Macedonian: брич m (brič)
• Maori: mata heu
• Norman: râseux m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: barberhøvel m

  Nynorsk: barberhøvel m

• Portuguese: gilete (pt) f
• Russian: бри́тва (ru) f (brítva)
• Spanish: razuradora f, cuchilla (es) f, gillete f, gillette (es) f, maquinilla de afeitar f
• Swedish: rakhyvel (sv) c
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Tibetan: སྤུ་གྲི (spu gri), སྐྲ་གྲི (skra gri)
• Turkish: jilet (tr)
• Ukrainian: бри́тва (uk) f (brýtva)
• Vietnamese: dao cạo (vi), dao cạo điện (electric)
• Walloon: raezoe (wa) m, rabot (wa) m
• Welsh: ellyn m, rasel f, raser f
• Yiddish: גאָלמעסער m (golmeser)

tusk of wild boar

• Afrikaans: slagtand
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Dutch: slagtand (nl), stoottand (nl) m
• Finnish: torahammas
• Macedonian: бивни f pl (bivni)
• Polish: szabla (pl)
• Portuguese: presa (pt) f
• Russian: би́вень (ru) m (bívenʹ), клык (ru) m (klyk)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Georgian: ^{(please verify)} სამართებელი (samartebeli)

Verb

razor (third-person singular simple present razors, present participle razoring, simple past and past participle razored)

1. (transitive) To shave with a razor.
   • 1868, George MacDonald, chapter 6, in Guild Court‎^[1], volume 3, London: Hurst & Blackett, page 137:

     He thought likewise, that what with razoring and tanning, and the change of his clothes, he was not likely to be recognised.

   • 1996, George R. R. Martin, “Tyrion”, in A Game of Thrones‎^[2], New York: Bantam, published 2016, page 641:

     Lord Tywin did not believe in half measures. He razored his lip and chin as well, but kept his side-whiskers, two great thickets of wiry golden hair that covered most of his cheeks from ear to jaw.

   • 2008 April 13, Sara Corbett, “Can the Cellphone Help End Global Poverty?”, in New York Times‎^[3]:

     He might be busy examining the advertisements for prostitutes stuck up in a São Paulo phone booth, or maybe getting his ear hairs razored off at a barber shop in Vietnam.

Derived terms

• razorable (obsolete)

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “razor”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.