wankle

English

Etymology

From Middle English wankel, from Old English wancol (“unstable, unsteady, tottering, vacillating, weak”), from Proto-Germanic *wankulaz (“unsteady, wavering”), from Proto-Indo-European *wank-, *wak-, *wek-, *weg- (“to be unsteady; crooked”). Cognate with Dutch wankel (“shaky, unstable”), Middle High German wankel (“unsteady”), German wanken (“to waver, totter”). See also wonky.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwæŋkəl/
• Rhymes: -æŋkəl

Adjective

wankle (comparative more wankle, superlative most wankle)

1. (UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Weak; unstable; unreliable; not to be depended on.

Anagrams

• knawel

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Scots

Etymology

From Middle English wankel, wankill, from Old English wancol (“unsteady, skaky”). More at wonky.

Adjective

wankle (comparative mair wankle, superlative maist wankle)

1. weak
2. unsteady
   • G. Stuart

     Your wankle leggs canno support ye / Sae sit ye down, till I exhort ye.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)