Etymology

wedge

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Today it means: One of the simple machines; a piece of material, such as metal or wood, thick at one edge and tapered to a thin edge at the other for insertion in a narrow crevice, used for splitting, tightening, securing, or levering. Full definition →

Middle English wegge ← Old English weċġ ← Proto-West Germanic *wagi
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wedge · noun, verb1

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*wagjaz
  2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*wagi
  3. Old English · inherited fromweċġ“wedge”
  4. Middle English · inherited fromwegge“wedge”
  5. English todaywedge

From Middle English wegge (“wedge”), from Old English weċġ (“wedge”), from Proto-West Germanic *wagi, from Proto-Germanic *wagjaz.

wedge · noun2

From Wedgewood, surname of the person who occupied this position on the first list of 1828.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.