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) IPA^(key): /ˈʍɛtˌstoʊn/, [ˈʍɛʔˌstoʊn] (without wine-whine merger)
(UK) IPA^(key): /wɛtstəʊn/
- Audio (US, with merger) (file)
- Audio (US, without merger) (file)

Noun

whetstone (plural whetstones)

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 606515358, [Act I, scene ii], line 192:
  [T]he dullness of the fool is the whetstone of the wits.
- 1922, Virginia Woolf, Jacob's Room, Vintage Classics, paperback edition, page 88-89
  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.
(computing) A benchmark for evaluating the power and performance of a computer.
(figurative) A stimulant.

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
Ido: akutigilo (io)
Italian: cote f
Japanese: 砥石 (toishi), 磨石 (togiishi)
Khmer: ថ្មសំលៀងកាំបិត (thmɑɑsɑmliəngkambət)
Kikuyu: inooro class 5
Korean: 숫돌 (sutdol)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: ھەسان‎ (ku) (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 (bilüü), хайлга (xajlga)
Narom: affileuse f (Jersey)
Old English: hwetstān m
Persian: افسان‎ (fa) (afsân), فسان‎ (fa) (fasân), سان‎ (fa) (sân)
Plautdietsch: Watsteen m, Schliepsteen (nds) m
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)

(transitive) To sharpen with a whetstone.