Meanings
burin1
plural burins
- A chisel with a sharp point, used for engraving; a graver.
I kept staring at the same wallpaper on the same wall; I stared at it so often that every line of its zigzag pattern has etched itself on the innermost folds of my brain as if with an engraver’s burin.
2006, Stefan Zweig, translated by Anthea Bell, Chess, London: Penguin
Burin2
Origin
burin · noun
- Frenchburin
- Englishburin
From French burin. Doublet of boline.
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Burin · proper noun
- Basqueburu“head”
- EnglishBurin
Likely derived from Basque buru (“head”), referring here to a headland or promontory.
More words from Basque
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian гравьорско длето
- гравьорско длето (gravjorsko dleto)chisel
Catalan burí, burí
- buríchisel
- buríprehistoric tool
Esperanto burino
- burinochisel
Finnish kaiverrin, uurrin
- kaiverrinchisel
- uurrinprehistoric tool
German Grabstichel, Stichel
- Grabstichelchisel
- Stichelprehistoric tool
Greek σκαρπέλο
- σκαρπέλο (skarpélo)chisel
Irish bior greanta
- bior greantachisel
Italian bulino
- bulinochisel
Polish rylec
- rylecchisel
Russian резе́ц гравёра, грабштихель
- резе́ц гравёра (rezéc gravjóra)chisel
- грабштихель (grabštixelʹ)chisel
Spanish buril
- burilchisel
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with burin
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
burin. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/burin
“burin.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/burin. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “burin,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/burin.
Source: burin on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.