whetstone

See also: Whetstone

English

A whetstone being used to sharpen a knife.

Etymology

From Middle English whestone, whetston, whetesston, from Old English hwetstān, from Proto-West Germanic *hwattjastain (“whetstone”). Equivalent to whet (“to sharpen”) +‎ stone.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈwɛtˌstoʊn/, [ˈwɛʔˌstoʊn]
  • (US, without the wine–whine merger) IPA^(key): /ˈʍɛtˌstoʊn/, [ˈʍɛʔˌstoʊn]
• (UK) IPA^(key): /wɛtstəʊn/

  • Audio (US, wine–whine merger):

    (file)

  • Audio (US, without the wine–whine merger):

    (file)

Noun

whetstone (plural whetstones)

1. A sharpening stone; a hard stone or piece of synthetically bonded hard minerals that has been formed with at least one flat surface, used to sharpen or hone an edged tool.
   • c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 186, column 2, line 192:

     […] for alwaies the dulneſſe of the foole, is the whetstone of the wits.

   • 1922 October 26, Virginia Woolf, Jacob’s Room, Richmond, London: […] Leonard & Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, →OCLC; republished London: The Hogarth Press, 1960, →OCLC:

     It was as if a stone were ground to dust; as if white sparks flew from a livid whetstone, which was his spine; as if the switchback railway, having swooped to the depths, fell, fell, fell.

2. (figurative) A stimulant.
3. (computing) Alternative letter-case form of Whetstone (“benchmark”)

Related terms

• stone
• whet

Translations

stone used to hone tools

• Albanian: grihë (sq) f, gashtë (sq) f
• Arabic: مِسَنّ m (misann), مِجْلَخَة f (mijlaḵa), مِشْحَذ m (mišḥaḏ)
• Armenian: հեսան (hy) (hesan)
• Belarusian: асялок m (asjalók)
• Bulgarian: точило (bg) n (točilo), брус (bg) m (brus)
• Catalan: pedra esmoladora f, pedra d'esmolar f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 磨刀石 (zh) (módāoshí), 磨石 (zh) (móshí)

• Crimean Tatar: bilev
• Czech: brousek m
• Danish: slibesten c
• Dutch: slijpsteen (nl)
• Esperanto: akrigilo
• Finnish: hiomakivi (fi), kovasin (fi)
• French: pierre à aiguiser (fr) f, aiguisoir (fr) m
• Galician: moa (gl) f, pedra de afiar (gl) f
• German: Schleifstein (de) m, Wetzstein (de) m, Abziehstein m
• Greek: ακόνι (el) n (akóni)

  Ancient: ἀκόνη f (akónē), θηγάνη f (thēgánē)

• Gurani: ھەسان (hasān)
• Hebrew: אבן השאה f (éven hasaá), אבן משחזת (he) f (éven mashkhézet)
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: köszörűkő (hu), fenőkő (hu), kaszakő (hu)
• Ido: akutigilo (io)
• Italian: cote f
• Japanese: 砥石 (ja) (toishi), 磨石 (togiishi)
• Khmer: ថ្មសំលៀងកាំបិត (thmɑɑsɑmliəngkambət)
• Kikuyu: inooro class 5
• Korean: 숫돌 (sutdol)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ھەسان (hesan)

  Northern Kurdish: hesan (ku)

  Southern Kurdish: ھەسان (ku) (hesan)

• Ladin: chëut f
• Latgalian: streičs m
• Latin: cōs f
• Latvian: galoda f, tecīla f
• Lithuanian: galąstuvas, pustyklė, tekėlas
• Luxembourgish: Schläifsteen m
• Maori: tūāhōanga, hōanga
• Middle English: wheston
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: билүү (mn) (bilüü), хайлга (xajlga)

• Narom: affileuse f (Jersey)
• Old English: hwetstān m
• Old Norse: hein f
• Ottoman Turkish: بلگو (bileği)
• Persian: افسان (fa) (afsân), فسان (fa) (fasân), سان (fa) (sân)
• Plautdietsch: Watsteen m, Schliepsteen (nds) m
• Polabian: våslă f
• Polish: osełka (pl)
• Portuguese: mó (pt) f
• Romani:

  Balkan Romani: asan, tros, beledǐn

• Romanian: gresie (ro) f, cute (ro) f
• Russian: осело́к (ru) m (oselók), брус (ru) m (brus), точи́льный ка́мень m (točílʹnyj kámenʹ), точи́ло (ru) n (točílo)
• Scots: whatstane
• Serbo-Croatian: brus (sh) m, брус m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: brus m

• Spanish: muela (es) f, piedra de afilar f, piedra de amolar f
• Swahili: suguo (sw)
• Swedish: brynsten (sv) c, bryne (sv) n, hen (sv) c (archaic, dialectal), slipsten (sv)
• Tagalog: bugaan, kamanga
• Thai: หินลับมีด (hǐn-láp-mîit)
• Turkish: bileği taşı (tr)
• Ukrainian: брус (uk) m (brus), осла́ (oslá)
• Vietnamese: đá mài (vi)
• Welsh: agalen f

Verb

whetstone (third-person singular simple present whetstones, present participle whetstoning, simple past and past participle whetstoned)

1. (transitive) To sharpen with a whetstone.

See also

• grind, grindstone
• hone