Hatchett

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small axe with a short handle, designed to be swung one-handed for chopping wood or splitting kindling
2. An archaic spelling of a small, single-handed axe used for cutting branches and trimming timber
3. A short-handled chopping tool with a light blade, used for splitting logs and other light woodwork

Etymology: "Hatchett" is an older spelling of "hatchet," the small one-handed axe. The word comes from Old French "hachette," a diminutive of "hache," meaning axe. So the tool is literally a "little axe," with the French suffix "-ette" marking the smaller size. "Hache" in turn likely derives from a Germanic source, probably Frankish, though the exact form is uncertain. The spelling with double "t" survives mainly as a surname. The best-known bearer was Charles Hatchett, an English chemist who identified the element niobium and named it "columbium." The surname and the tool share a spelling only by coincidence of how English writers rendered the same French-derived word.