trenchant

trenchant

English

WOTD – 3 March 2016

Alternative forms

• trenchaunt (obsolete)

Etymology

From Old French, from the present participle of trenchier (“to cut”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɹɛnʃənt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

trenchant (comparative more trenchant, superlative most trenchant)

1. (obsolete) Fitted to trench or cut; gutting; sharp.
   • 1663, Samuel Butler, Hudibras, part 1, canto 1:

     The trenchant blade, Toledo trusty, / For want of fighting was grown rusty, / And ate into itself, for lack / Of somebody to hew and hack.

2. (figuratively) Keen; biting; vigorously effective and articulate; severe.

   trenchant wit

   • 1902, Joseph Conrad, chapter I, in Heart of Darkness:

     His eyes, of the usual blue, were perhaps remarkably cold, and he certainly could make his glance fall on one as trenchant and heavy as an axe.

   • 2011, Jay A. Gertzman, Bookleggers and Smuthounds: The Trade in Erotica, 1920-1940

     His trenchant criticisms of the Church's repression […] include a discussion of the considerable 1938 success of the fledgling NODL in getting magazines removed from various points of sale.

Translations

sharp

Finnish: pureva (fi), terävä (fi) French: tranchant (fr) German: schneidend (de) Ido: tranchiva (io), tranchema

Portuguese: cortante (pt) m or f, afiado (pt) m Russian: о́стрый (ru) m (óstryj) Swedish: skarp (sv)

biting, severe

Finnish: pureva (fi), terävä (fi) German: treffsicher, prägnant (de), beißend (de), pointiert, scharf (de), stechend (de) Hebrew: חריף‎ (he) (kharíf), שנון‎ (he) (shanún)

Portuguese: mordaz (pt) m or f, incisivo m Russian: ко́лкий (ru) m (kólkij) Swedish: bitande (kritik); kraftfull

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Middle French

Etymology

Old French trenchant.

Noun

trenchant m or f (plural trenchans)

1. sharp

Descendants

• French: tranchant

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Old French

Adjective

trenchant m (oblique and nominative feminine singular trenchant or trenchante)

1. sharp; razor sharp

Declension

Declension of trenchant

Number	Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Singular	Subject	trenchanz	trenchant	trenchant
	Oblique	trenchant	trenchant	trenchant
Plural	Subject	trenchant	trenchanz	trenchant
	Oblique	trenchanz	trenchanz	trenchant

Verb

trenchant

1. present participle of trenchier