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, without the wine–whine merger) IPA^(key): /ˈʍɛtˌstoʊn/, [ˈʍɛʔˌstoʊn]
• (UK) IPA^(key): /wɛtstəʊn/

  • Audio (US, wine–whine merger):

    (file)

  • Audio (US, without the wine–whine merger):

    (file)

Noun

whetstone (plural whetstones)

1. 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, [Act I, scene ii], page 186, column 2, line 192:

     […] for alwaies the dulneſſe of the foole, is the whetstone of the wits.

   • 1922 October 26, Virginia Woolf, Jacob’s Room, Richmond, London: […] Leonard & Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, →OCLC; republished London: The Hogarth Press, 1960, →OCLC:

     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.

2. (figurative) A stimulant.
3. (computing) Alternative letter-case form of Whetstone (“benchmark”)

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 (hu)
• Ido: akutigilo (io)
• Ingrian: luiska
• Italian: cote f
• Japanese: 砥石 (ja) (toishi), 磨石 (togiishi)
• Kalmyk: бүлү (bülü)
• Khmer: ថ្មសំលៀងកាំបិត (thmɑɑsɑmliəngkambət)
• Kikuyu: inooro class 5
• Korean: 숫돌 (sutdol)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ھەسان (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
• Macedonian: точило n (točilo)
• Maori: tūāhōanga, hōanga
• Middle English: wheston
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: билүү (mn) (bilüü), хайлга (xajlga)

• Narom: affileuse f (Jersey)
• Old English: hwetstān m
• Old Norse: hein f
• Ottoman Turkish: بلگو (bileği)
• Persian: افسان (fa) (afsân), فسان (fa) (fasân), سان (fa) (sân)
• Plautdietsch: Watsteen m, Schliepsteen (nds) m
• Polabian: våslă f
• 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, afilador (es) m, afiladora (es) f, piedra para afilar f, asperón (es) m, afiladera (es) f, aguzadera f, aguzadora (es) f, amoladera 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)

1. (transitive) To sharpen with a whetstone.

See also

• grind, grindstone
• hone