winnow

English

WOTD – 1 November 2006

Etymology

From Middle English winewen, windewen, windwen, from Old English windwian (“to winnow, fan, ventilate”), from Proto-Germanic *windwōną, *winþijaną (“to throw about, winnow”), from Proto-Indo-European *wē- (“to winnow, thresh”). Cognate with Middle High German winden (“to winnow”), Icelandic vinsa (“to pick out, weed”), Latin vannus (“a winnowing basket”). See fan, van.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwɪnoʊ/
• IPA^(key): /ˈwɪnəʊ/
• Rhymes: -ɪnəʊ

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Verb

winnow (third-person singular simple present winnows, present participle winnowing, simple past and past participle winnowed)

1. (transitive, agriculture) To subject (granular material, especially food grain) to a current of air separating heavier and lighter components, as grain from chaff.
2. (transitive, figuratively) To separate, sift, analyze, or test by separating items having different values.

   They winnowed the field to twelve.

   They winnowed the winners from the losers.

   They winnowed the losers from the winners.

3. (transitive, literary) To blow upon or toss about by blowing; to set in motion as with a fan or wings.
   • 1872 Elliott Coues, Key to North American Birds

     Gulls average much larger than terns, with stouter build; the feet are larger and more ambulatorial, the wings are shorter and not so thin; the birds winnow the air in a steady course unlike the buoyant dashing flight of their relatives.

4. (intransitive, literary, dated) To move about with a flapping motion, as of wings; to flutter.

Usage notes

• Used with adverb or preposition "down"; see also winnow down.
• Used with adverbs or prepositions "through", "away", and "out".

Hyponyms

• winnow down

Derived terms

• winnower
• winnow grain from chaff
• winnowing basket
• winnowing fan
• winnowing machine
• winnow sheet
• winnow the wheat from the chaff

 

Translations

to separate the heavier and lighter with a current of air

• Belarusian: ве́яць impf (vjéjacʹ)
• Breton: gwentañ (br)
• Bulgarian: ве́я (bg) impf (véja)
• Catalan: ventar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 簸 (zh) (bǒ)

• Czech: rozvívat
• Dutch: wannen (nl)
• Finnish: tuultaa (fi), viskata (fi)
• French: vanner (fr)
• Galician: erguer (gl)
• German: worfeln (de), windsichten (de) (technical), trennen (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: λικμάω (likmáō), πτίσσω (ptíssō)

• Latin: ventilo
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latvian: vētīt (lv)
• Maori: kōwhiuwhiu
• Ngazidja Comorian: upveresa, utsepva
• Occitan: ventar (oc), vanar, porgar
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: вѣꙗти impf (vějati)

• Old East Slavic: вѣꙗти impf (vějati)
• Portuguese: joeirar (pt)
• Russian: ве́ять (ru) impf (véjatʹ), отве́ивать (ru) impf (otvéivatʹ), отве́ять (ru) pf (otvéjatʹ)
• Slovak: viať
• Spanish: ahechar (es), cribar (es)
• Turkish: harman savurmak (tr)
• Ukrainian: ві́яти impf (víjaty)
• Vietnamese: sàng (vi)

figuratively: to separate, sift, analyze, test

• Finnish: seuloa (fi)
• French: séparer (fr)
• German: trennen (de), separieren (de), aussortieren (de), sichten (de)
• Occitan: separar, analisar (oc)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: joeirar (pt)
• Spanish: separar (es)
• Swedish: sålla (sv)
• Turkish: inceleyip ayıklamak

Noun

winnow (plural winnows)

1. That which winnows or which is used in winnowing; a contrivance for fanning or winnowing grain.

Translations

something that winnows

• Czech: fukar m, čistící stroj m
• Dutch: wan (nl) m or f
• French: tarare (fr) m, van (fr) m, crible (fr) m
• Maori: kōwhiuwhiu
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Occitan: ventador (oc) m
• Portuguese: joeira f
• Russian: ве́ялка (ru) f (véjalka)
• Turkish: atkı (tr), yaba (tr)

References

• “winnow”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “winnow”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “winnow”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.