whet

English

Etymology

From Middle English whetten, from Old English hwettan (“to whet, sharpen, incite, encourage”), from Proto-Germanic *hwatjanan (“to incite, sharpen”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷēd- (“sharp”). Cognate with Dutch wetten (“to whet, sharpen”), German wetzen (“to whet, sharpen”), Danish dialectal hvæde (“to whet”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /wɛt/ X-SAMPA: /wEt/
• IPA: /ʍɛt/ X-SAMPA: /WEt/ (in accents without the wine-whine merger)
• Rhymes: -ɛt
• Homophones: wet

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To hone or rub on with some substance, as a piece of stone, for the purpose of sharpening – see whetstone.
2. (transitive) To stimulate or make more keen.

   To whet one’s appetite.

   • 2003-10-20, Naomi Wolf, The Porn Myth, New York Magazine

     In the end, porn doesn’t whet men’s appetites—it turns them off the real thing.

Derived terms

• whetstone

Translations

hone or rub on with some substance for the purpose of sharpening

• Catalan: afilar (ca)
• Dutch: wetten (nl), slijpen (nl), scherpen (nl)
• German: wetzen (de)
• Irish: faobhraigh (ga)

• Portuguese: afiar (pt)
• Russian: точить (ru) (točít'), править (ru) (právit')
• Spanish: afilar (es)
• Swedish: slipa (sv), skärpa (sv), fila (sv)

stimulate or make more keen

• Dutch: wetten (nl), scherpen (nl)

• Maori: whakapuku (mi)
• Russian: возбуждать (ru) (vozbuždatʹ), обострять (ru) (obostrjatʹ), разжигать (ru) (razžigatʹ)

Anagrams

• thew