hatchet

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English[edit]

A wooden-handled hatchet.

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English hachet, a borrowing from Old French hachete, diminutive of hache (axe), from Vulgar Latin *happia, from Frankish *happjā, from Proto-Germanic *hapjǭ, *habjǭ (knife), from Proto-Indo-European *kop- (to strike, to beat). Cognate with Old High German happa, heppa, habba (reaper, sickle), German Hippe (billhook). Mostly displaced native Old English handæx, whence Modern English hand axe.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈhæt͡ʃɪt/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -ætʃɪt

Noun[edit]

hatchet (plural hatchets)

  1. A small, light axe with a short handle; a tomahawk.

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

hatchet (third-person singular simple present hatchets, present participle hatcheting or hatchetting, simple past and past participle hatcheted or hatchetted)

  1. (transitive) To cut with a hatchet.