Etymology

whetstone

W4H4E1T1S1T1O1N1E1

Today it means: 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. Full definition →

Middle English whetston ← Old English hwetstān ← Proto-West Germanic *hwattjastain
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whetstone · noun, verb1

  1. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*hwattjastain“whetstone”
  2. Old English · inherited fromhwetstān
  3. Middle English · inherited fromwhetston
  4. English todaywhetstone

From Middle English whetston, wheston, from Old English hwetstān, from Proto-West Germanic *hwattjastain (“whetstone”). Equivalent to whet (“to sharpen”) + stone.

Whetstone · proper noun, noun2

The benchmark is named after the Whetstone compiler built at an English Electric Company division in Whetstone, Leicestershire.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.