wharf

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

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: (h)wôrf, IPA^(key): /(h)wɔːf/
• (General American) enPR: (h)wôrf, IPA^(key): /(h)wɔɹf/
• (without the wine–whine merger) 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.
   • 1834-1874, George Bancroft, History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent.

     Commerce pushes its wharves into the sea.

   • 1842, Alfred Tennyson, “The Lady of Shalott”, in Poems. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon, […], OCLC 1008064829, part IV, page 86:

     Out upon the wharfs they came, / Knight and burgher, lord and dame, / And round the prow they read her name, / The Lady of Shalott.

2. The bank of a river, or the shore of the sea.
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene v]:

     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

• Canary Wharf
• Red Wharf Bay
• 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) (navamatuycʿ) Azerbaijani: iskele Belarusian: пры́стань f (prýstanʹ), прыча́л m (pryčál), док m (dok) Bulgarian: при́стан (bg) m (prístan), кей (bg) m (kej) Burmese: ဆိပ် (my) (hcip), ဆိပ်ကမ်း (my) (hcipkam:) Catalan: moll (ca) m, embarcador m Chinese: Mandarin: 碼頭／码头 (zh) (mǎtóu), 港埠 (zh) (gǎngbù), 埠頭／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, embarcadoiro (gl) 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 (ja) (ふとう, futō), 桟橋 (さんばし, sanbashi) Kazakh: айлақ (ailaq), кемежай (kemejai) Khmer: ផែ (km) (phae), តីរវិថី (km) (təyrĕəʼvithəy) Korean: 부두 (ko) (budu), 선창 (ko) (seonchang) Kyrgyz: пристань (ky) (pristanʹ) Lao: ທ່າ (thā), ທ່າເຮືອ (lo) (thā hư̄a), ທ່າຈອດ (thā chǭt) Latin: navalia n pl Macedonian: пристан m (pristan), пристаниште n (pristanište) Malay: dermaga 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, embarcadoiro (pt) m, ancoradouro (pt) m, fundeadouro m, embarcadouro (pt) m Romanian: chei (ro) n, doc (ro) n Russian: при́стань (ru) f (prístanʹ), прича́л (ru) m (pričál), док (ru) m (dok) Sanskrit: घट्ट (sa) m (ghaṭṭa) 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

Chinese: Mandarin: (please verify) 碼頭／码头 (zh) (mǎtóu) Danish: (please verify) brygge c 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.