Bodkins

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small, sharp, pointed tool used for making holes in fabric or leather
2. A term for a thin, tapered instrument often utilized in sewing or crafting
3. A reference to a similar device historically used in needlework or embroidery

Etymology: The plural form "bodkins" is the same word as "bodkin," and the singular tells the story. Its earliest English sense was not a needle at all but a dagger. In Middle English, "boydekin" meant a dagger, and the word's first element is an unidentified word, possibly of Celtic origin, that has left no other trace in English. The ending "-kin" is a diminutive suffix, the same one found in "lambkin" and "napkin," so the name amounts to a little dagger, or a small weapon. Scots kept a close relative, "botkin" and "boitkin," which also meant bodkin. The shift from weapon to tool is the core of the story: a thin, pointed blade made for piercing turned, over the centuries, into a slender implement for drawing thread through cloth, and in some uses for piercing fabric and hair. The needle-like sense was clearly in place by the time the word reached its modern form, so the dagger meaning survives only in the history books.

Synonyms: needle, awl, point, pick, pin