Choppers

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A collective term for hefty knives designed for slicing through food items
2. Robust knives used mainly in kitchens for chopping food into smaller pieces
3. Strong cutting tools designed to slice through thick or tough food materials

Etymology: "Choppers" is built from "chop" with the suffix "-er" and then the plural "-s". The stem "chop" itself is the same root that gives English "chopstick", and in the sense of hefty kitchen knives the word combines the verb "chop", meaning to cut with forceful blows, with the agent-forming "-er" that names a tool or doer. The plural ending simply marks that the word refers to more than one such implement, so the everyday sense of a set of heavy cleavers came from the simple act of chopping.

Synonyms: cutters, blades