Meanings
nountweezers pl (plural only)
- pluralplural onlyA small pincerlike instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling or picking up small objects (such as postage stamps), plucking out (plucking) hairs, pulling out slivers, etc.
Synonyms: pair of pincers, pincers, pair of tweezers, tongs, tweezer
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA small pincerlike instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling or picking up small objects (such as postage stamps), plucking out (plucking) hairs, pulling out slivers, etc.
Also see
Origin
- Latinstudēre“to care about”
- Vulgar Latin*estudiāre“to keep, treat with care”
- Old Frenchestui“container, prison”
- Frenchétuis
- Englishtweezers
17th century (1645–55): plural of tweeser (on the model of nippers, pincers, pliers or scissors), from obsolete tweese (“case for small instruments”) (or alternatively, alteration of plural form tweeses), aphetic form of earlier etweese (plural of etwee), from French étuis, plural of étui (“case, box, cover”) (from Old French estui (“container, prison”, noun), derivative of étuier (earlier spelling, estuier (“to shut up, guard, keep, preserve, save, enclose, place in a cover”), probably from Vulgar Latin *estudiāre (“to keep, treat with care”) or *studiāre, from Latin studēre (“to care about”).
More words from French, Old French, Vulgar Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic مِلْقَط صَغِير, مِلْقَط
- مِلْقَط صَغِير (milqaṭ ṣaḡīr)small pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
- مِلْقَط (milqaṭ)small pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Basque pintzak
- pintzaksmall pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Bulgarian пинсе́та
- пинсе́та (pinséta)small pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Catalan pinces, alicates d'ungles
- pincessmall pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
- alicates d'unglessmall pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Chinese Mandarin 鑷子 /镊子, 眉毛鉗 /眉毛钳
- 鑷子 /镊子 (nièzi)small pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
- 眉毛鉗 /眉毛钳 (méimáoqián)small pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Czech pinzeta
- pinzetasmall pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Danish pincet
- pincetsmall pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Dutch pincet
- pincetsmall pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Esperanto pinĉileto
- pinĉiletosmall pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Estonian pintsett
- pintsettsmall pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Finnish pinsetit
- pinsetitsmall pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
French pince à épiler, pincette
- pince à épilersmall pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
- pincettesmall pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
German Pinzette
- Pinzettesmall pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Greek λαβίδα
- λαβίδα (lavída)small pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Hebrew פִּינְצֶטָה
- פִּינְצֶטָה (pintséta)small pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Hindi चिमटी
- चिमटी (cimṭī)small pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Hungarian csipesz
- csipeszsmall pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Icelandic flísatöng, plokktöng
- flísatöngsmall pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
- plokktöngsmall pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Irish pionsúirín
- pionsúirínsmall pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Italian pinzetta
- pinzettasmall pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Japanese ピンセット
- ピンセット (pinsetto)small pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Korean 핀셋, 핀세트
- 핀셋 (pinset)small pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
- 핀세트 (pinseteu)small pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Latin volsella
- volsellasmall pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Latvian pincete
- pincetesmall pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Lithuanian pincetas
- pincetassmall pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Māori kuku, kopikopi
- kukusmall pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
- kopikopismall pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Norwegian Bokmål pinsett
- pinsettsmall pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Persian موچین, موی چینک
- موچین (mučin)small pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
- موی چینک (muy činak)small pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Polish pęseta
- pęsetasmall pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Portuguese pinça
- pinçasmall pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Romanian pensetă
- pensetăsmall pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Russian пинце́т, щипцы́
- пинце́т (pincét)small pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
- щипцы́ (ščipcý)small pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
- щи́пчики (ščípčiki)small pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Slovak pinzeta
- pinzetasmall pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Spanish pinzas, tenacillas
- pinzassmall pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
- tenacillassmall pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
- tenazuelassmall pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
- pinza [depilatoria]small pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
- pincita [de depilar]small pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Swedish pincett
- pincettsmall pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Tagalog tiyani
- tiyanismall pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Tamil இடுக்கி
- இடுக்கி (iṭukki)small pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Thai แหนบ
- แหนบ (nɛ̀ɛp)small pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Turkish cımbız
- cımbızsmall pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Ukrainian пінце́т, щи́пці
- пінце́т (pincét)small pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
- щи́пці (ščýpci)small pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Urdu چِمْٹی
- چِمْٹی (cimṭī)small pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Vietnamese nhíp
- nhípsmall pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Welsh pliciwr, plyciwr
- pliciwrsmall pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
- plyciwrsmall pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
- gefelsmall pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects
Cite this entry
APA
tweezers. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tweezers
MLA
“tweezers.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tweezers. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tweezers,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tweezers.
Source: tweezers on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.