Hatchet

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈhæt͡ʃɪt/

Definitions

1. A small axe with a short handle, designed to be used with one hand for chopping wood or cutting branches
2. A handheld cutting tool featuring a short blade, utilized primarily for tasks such as chopping wood or clearing brush in various outdoor settings
3. A compact tool with a sharp blade and short handle, intended for one-handed use in cutting, chopping, or splitting wood and other materials

Etymology: The Old English word for this tool was "handæx," literally "hand-axe," and it survived in English only as the modern term "hand axe." The everyday word we use now came in later, borrowed from Old French "hachete," a little "hache" (axe). That French word traces back through Vulgar Latin "happia" to a Frankish term "happjā," which likely meant a knife or blade, ultimately from a Proto-Germanic root meaning "knife." The word's ancestry reaches back to a very old root meaning "to strike or beat," which also gave Ancient Greek "kopís," a curved blade. The same family produced German "Hippe" and Dutch "heep," both meaning a billhook, and Old High German "happa," a sickle. So the tool's name grew out of a sense of cutting by striking, carried across several languages before it settled into English.

Synonyms: axe, cleaver, cutter, tool, chopper