wharf

English

Etymology

From Middle English wharf, from Old English hwearf (“heap, embankment, wharf”); related to Old English hweorfan (“to turn”), Old Saxon hwerf (whence German Werft), Dutch werf, Old High German hwarb (“a turn”), hwerban (“to turn”), Old Norse hvarf (“circle”), and Ancient Greek καρπός (karpós, “wrist”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: wôrf, IPA^(key): /wɔɹf/
• enPR: wôf, IPA^(key): /wɔːf/
• enPR: hwôrf, IPA^(key): /hwɔɹf/.

In New Zealand, even those who distinguish wine and whine are likely to pronounce as /wɔːf/.

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)f

Noun

wharf (plural wharves or wharfs)

1. A man-made landing place for ships on a shore or river bank.
   • (Can we date this quote by Bancroft and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     Commerce pushes its wharves into the sea.

   • (Can we date this quote by Tennyson and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     Out upon the wharfs they came, / Knight and burgher, lord and dame.

2. The bank of a river, or the shore of the sea.
   • (Can we date this quote by Shakespeare and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     the fat weed that roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf

Synonyms

• (landing place): dock; quay

Hyponyms

• (landing place): jetty; pier; staithe, staith (Northern England)

Derived terms

Derived terms

• wharfage
• wharfie

• wharfinger
• wharf rat

Translations

man-made landing place

• Arabic: رَصِيف m (raṣīf)

  Egyptian Arabic: معبر m (maʕbar)

• Armenian: նավակայան (hy) (navakayan), նավամատույց (hy) (navamatuycʻ)
• Azerbaijani: iskele
• Belarusian: пры́стань f (prýstanʹ), прыча́л m (pryčál), док m (dok)
• Bulgarian: при́стан (bg) m (prístan)
• Burmese: ဆိပ် (my) (hcip), ဆိပ်ကမ်း (my) (hcipkam:)
• Catalan: moll (ca) m, embarcador m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 碼頭／码头 (zh), 码头 (zh) (mǎtóu), 港埠 (zh) (gǎngbù), 埠頭／埠头 (zh), 埠头 (zh) (bùtóu)

• Czech: přístaviště (cs) n
• Danish: kaj (da) c
• Dutch: kaai (nl) f, werf (nl) m
• Esperanto: varfo
• Estonian: kai
• Finnish: laituri (fi)
• French: quai (fr) m, appontement (fr) m
• Galician: caes m, cai m, peirao (gl) m, peirau m, pantalán m
• Georgian: ნავმისადგომი (ka) (navmisadgomi), მისადგომი (misadgomi)
• German: Kai (de) m, Wharf m
• Greek: αποβάθρα (el) f (apováthra)
• Hindi: घाट (hi) m (ghāṭ), जेटी (hi) f (jeṭī)
• Hungarian: rakpart (hu)
• Ido: warfo (io)
• Irish: cé f
• Italian: attracco (it) m
• Japanese: 波止場 (はとば, hatoba), 埠頭 (ふとう, futō), 桟橋 (さんばし, sanbashi)
• Kazakh: айлақ (ailaq), пристань (pristan), кемежай (kemejai)
• Khmer: ផែ (km) (phae), តីរវិថី (km) (təyrĕəʼvithəy)
• Korean: 부두 (ko) (budu), 선창 (ko) (seonchang)
• Kyrgyz: пристань (ky) (pristan)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Lao: ທ່າ (thā), ທ່າເຮືອ (lo) (thā hư̄a), ທ່າຈອດ (thā chǭt)
• Latin: navale (la) n
• Macedonian: пристан m (pristan), пристаниште n (pristanište)
• Maori: wāpu
• Middle English: wharf
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kai (no) m or f, brygge m or f

  Nynorsk: kai f or m, brygge f, bryggje f

• Persian: اسکله (fa) (eskele)
• Polish: przystań (pl) f, keja (pl) f
• Portuguese: cais (pt) m
• Romanian: chei (ro) n
• Russian: при́стань (ru) f (prístanʹ), прича́л (ru) m (pričál), док (ru) m (dok)
• Scottish Gaelic: laimrig f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: пристаниште n

  Roman: pristanište (sh) n

• Slovak: prístavisko n
• Slovene: pomol (sl) m
• Spanish: embarcadero m, muelle (es) m
• Swedish: kaj (sv) c
• Tajik: искала (iskala)
• Thai: ท่าน้ำ (tâa-náam), ท่า (th) (tâa), ท่าเทียบเรือ (tâa-tîiap-rʉʉa)
• Turkish: iskele (tr)
• Ukrainian: при́стань f (prýstanʹ), прича́л m (pryčál), док m (dok)
• Urdu: گھاٹ m (ghāṭ)
• Uzbek: pristan (uz), iskala
• Vietnamese: bến tàu (vi)
• Welsh: glanfa f
• Yiddish: דאָק m (dok)

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

• Bulgarian: ^{(please verify)} кей (bg) m (kej)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 碼頭／码头, ^{(please verify)} 码头 (zh) (mǎtóu)

• Danish: ^{(please verify)} brygge c
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} werf (nl) m, ^{(please verify)} kade (nl) f
• French: ^{(please verify)} quai (fr) m, ^{(please verify)} appontement (fr) m
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} molo (it) m, ^{(please verify)} banchina (it) f, ^{(please verify)} pontile (it) m
• Persian: ^{(please verify)} بندرگاه (fa) (bandargâh)

Verb

wharf (third-person singular simple present wharfs, present participle wharfing, simple past and past participle wharfed)

1. (transitive) To secure by a wharf.
2. (transitive) To place on a wharf.

See also

• dock

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Middle English

Alternative forms

• wherf, wharfe, warrf, wharghfe

Etymology

From Old English hwearf.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʍarf/

Noun

wharf (plural wharves)

1. wharf

Derived terms

• wharfage

Descendants

• English: wharf
• Scots: wharf

References

• “wharf, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-12-12.