Fork

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /fɔːk/

Definitions

1. A utensil with prongs used for picking up and eating food, or a point where something divides into two or more branches
2. A tool featuring several tapered prongs designed for lifting food or a juncture at which a single path splits into multiple routes or options
3. An implement with sharp tines for handling food alongside a convergence point where a single entity separates into several distinct paths

Etymology: The eating utensil is the newest sense of this word, and it arrived by way of farm tools and torture devices. Its oldest English ancestor, "force" or "forca" in Old English, named a forked instrument used to torture people, and the Middle English "forke" was a digging fork. The eating sense only came later, from the broader idea of any implement with two or more branches. That sense is attested from the 18th century. The word's deeper roots go back to Latin "furca," which meant a pitchfork or forked stake, but also a gallows, a beam, or a yoke for oxen. Those meanings share a picture of a Y-shaped wooden support, and the same Latin word gave English "fourche" and "furcate," which entered the language by different routes. Its ultimate origin is uncertain, though it may connect to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning fork.

Synonyms: prong, tine, spork, utensil, divider

Antonyms: spoon, knife, single piece, straight path, unbranching