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)
- (Britain dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Weak; unstable; unreliable; not to be depended on.
Anagrams
- knawel
Scots
Etymology
From Middle English wankel, wankill, from Old English wancol (“unsteady, skaky”). More at wonky.
Adjective
wankle (comparative mair wankle, superlative maist wankle)
- weak
- unsteady
- G. Stuart
- Your wankle leggs canno support ye / Sae sit ye down, till I exhort ye.
- (please add an English translation of this quote)
- G. Stuart