wheedle

W4H4E1E1D2L1E1
/ˈʍiː.dəl//ˈwiː.dəl/

verb

To cajole or attempt to persuade by flattery.

“I’d like one of those, too, if you can wheedle him into telling you where he got it.”

Similar
butter upinveiglesweet-talkblandanderblandishcajolesweetenfast-talk
OriginMiddle English wedlen ← Old English wǣdlian ← Proto-Germanic *wēþlōną →
RareScrabble 14
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Meanings

verbwheedle (third-person singular simple present wheedles, present participle wheedling, simple past and past participle wheedled)

present singular third person wheedles · participle present wheedling · participle past wheedled · past wheedled

  1. ambitransitiveTo cajole or attempt to persuade by flattery.

    I’d like one of those, too, if you can wheedle him into telling you where he got it.

    4 more examples

    […]whether, after preventing her from being the wife of Sir Walter, he may not be wheedled and caressed at last into making her the wife of Sir William.

    1817 (date written), [Jane Austen], Persuasion; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. […], volume (please specify |volume=III or IV), London: John Murray, […], 20 December 1817 (indicated as 1818), →OCLC

    “Brother Peter,” he said, in a wheedling yet gravely official tone, “It’s nothing but right I should speak to you about the Three Crofts and the Manganese. The Almighty knows what I’ve got on my mind—”

    1871–1872, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], Middlemarch […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book (please specify |book=I to VIII)

    Anyhow, you can't wheedle him this time. He's as bent as I am.

    a. 1911, David Graham Phillips, Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise

    Though he had beaten me in every bone / He still could wheedle me to love.

    1951, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Wife of Bath's Tale”, in Nevill Coghill, transl., The Canterbury Tales: Translated into Modern English (Penguin Classics), Penguin Books, published 1977, page 290

    Synonyms: butter up, inveigle, sweet-talk, blandander, blandish, butter up, cajole, sweeten

  2. transitiveTo obtain by flattery, guile, or trickery.

    […]when their best resources were the flitches of bacon and measures of corn, out of which they wheedled poor serfs and bondsmen, in exchange for their prayers[…]

    1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC
    2 more examples

    If the worſt come to the worſt,—I'll turn my Wife to Graſs—I already have a deed of Settlement of the beſt part of her Eſtate; which I wheadl'd out of her; [...]

    1700, [William] Congreve, The Way of the World, a Comedy. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act III, scene xviii, page 51

    She tore off my cap, scratched, kicked, and buffetted me, till she had exhausted her strength, declaring, as she rested her arm, ‘that I had wheedled her husband from her.

    1798, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, “[Maria: or, The] Wrongs of Woman”, in W[illiam] Godwin, editor, Posthumous Works of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […]; and G[eorge,] G[eorge] and J[ohn] Robinson, […], →OCLC
nounwheedle (plural wheedles)

plural wheedles

  1. archaicA coaxing person.

Synonyms & antonyms

verbTo cajole or attempt to persuade by flattery.

Similar
butter upinveiglesweet-talkblandanderblandishbutter upcajolesweetenfast-talkcanoodlecarnycoaxcolloguecroodleenglefleechhoney aroundhoney uphumingle

More synonyms by meaning

verbinfluence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering

Similar
cajolepalaverblarneycoaxsweet-talkinveigle
Broader
persuade
Also see
blagblandishblarneybumcadgecajolecanoodlecoaxcroodlefawninveiglemoochmumppalaverpersuadescroungescungesoft-soapsweet-talktaptweedletwist

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Old High Germanwādalōn“to wander, roam, rove”
  2. Middle High Germanwedelen
  3. Germanwedeln“to wag one's tail”
  4. Proto-Germanic*wēþlōną“to be in need”
  5. Old Englishwǣdlian“to be poor, be needy, be in want, beg”
  6. Middle Englishwedlen“to beg, ask for alms”
  7. Englishwheedle

Uncertain. Perhaps continuing Middle English wedlen (“to beg, ask for alms”), from Old English wǣdlian (“to be poor, be needy, be in want, beg”), from Proto-Germanic *wēþlōną (“to be in need”). Alternatively , borrowed from German wedeln (“to wag one's tail”), from Middle High German wedelen, a byform of Middle High German wadelen (“to wander, waver, wave, whip, stroke, flutter”), from Old High German wādalōn (“to wander, roam, rove”). In this case, it may be a doublet of waddle, or an independently formed etymological equivalent. The ⟨wh⟩ spelling (reflecting pronunciations with /ʍ/) is apparently unetymological.

More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 誘哄 /诱哄
  • 誘哄 /诱哄 (yòuhǒng)cajole
Czech přemluvit, přesvědčit
  • přemluvitcajole
  • přesvědčitcajole
  • vymámitobtain by guile or trickery
  • vylouditobtain by guile or trickery
Finnish lirkutella
  • lirkutellacajole
French amadouer
  • amadouercajole
German überreden, beschwatzen
  • überredencajole
  • beschwatzencajole
  • umschmeichelncajole
  • schmeichelncajole
  • herumkriegencajole
  • abschwatzenobtain by guile or trickery
  • abschmeichelnobtain by guile or trickery
  • abbettelnobtain by guile or trickery
  • abheuchelnobtain by guile or trickery
  • erschmeichelnobtain by guile or trickery
  • abschwätzenobtain by guile or trickery
  • aus dem Kreuz leiernobtain by guile or trickery
Hungarian hízeleg
  • hízelegcajole
Italian ottenere con lusinghe
  • ottenere con lusingheobtain by guile or trickery
Latin lactō
  • lactōcajole
Māori pīnono, pīnono
  • pīnonocajole
  • pīnonoobtain by guile or trickery
Romanian flata, linguși
  • flatacajole
  • lingușicajole
Russian подли́зываться, подлиза́ться
  • подли́зываться (podlízyvatʹsja)cajole
  • подлиза́ться (podlizátʹsja)cajole
  • обха́живать (obxáživatʹ)cajole
  • ублажа́ть (ublažátʹ)cajole
  • прельща́ть (prelʹščátʹ)cajole
  • выма́нивать ле́стью (vymánivatʹ léstʹju)obtain by guile or trickery
  • вы́манить ле́стью (výmanitʹ léstʹju)obtain by guile or trickery
Spanish engatusar, camelar
  • engatusarcajole
  • camelarcajole
Ukrainian підлещуватися, ластитися
  • підлещуватися (pidleščuvatysja)cajole
  • ластитися (lastytysja)cajole
  • виманювати лестощами (vymanjuvaty lestoščamy)obtain by guile or trickery
Welsh chwidlo, truthio
  • chwidlocajole
  • truthiocajole
  • cocsiocajole
  • hudoobtain by guile or trickery
  • twylloobtain by guile or trickery
  • hoceduobtain by guile or trickery

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with wheedle

needlepedalbeadlebipedallarding needlemultineedlepredal
All rhymes →

Anagrams

wheeled
Cite this entry
APA

wheedle. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wheedle

MLA

“wheedle.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wheedle. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “wheedle,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wheedle.

Source: wheedle on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.