Etymology

hone

H4O1N1E1

Today it means: A sharpening stone composed of extra-fine grit used for removing the burr or curl from the blade of a razor or some other edge tool. Full definition →

Middle English hon ← Old English hān ← Proto-Germanic *hainō
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hone · noun, verb1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*ḱeh₃i-“to sharpen”
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*hainō
  3. Old English · inherited fromhān
  4. Middle English · inherited fromhon“whetstone”
  5. English todayhone

From Middle English hon (“whetstone”), from Old English hān, from Proto-Germanic *hainō (compare Dutch heen, Norwegian hein), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱeh₃i- (“to sharpen”) (compare Ancient Greek κῶνος (kônos, “cone”), Persian سان (sân, “whetstone”)).

hone · noun2

Cognate with Icelandic hnúður. Distantly related to knot.

hone · verb3

  1. French · derived fromhogner“to grumble”
  2. English todayhone

French hogner (“to grumble”), which could be a cross of honnir (“to disgrace, shame”) and grogner (“to grunt”).

Words from the same roots

Old Englishhān all →

Hambridge

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.