Hoe

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /həʊ/

Definitions

1. A gardening tool with a flat blade mounted at a right angle to a long handle, used for breaking up soil and removing weeds
2. An agricultural implement consisting of a handle and a perpendicular blade designed to cultivate the ground and clear plants unwanted in a garden or field
3. A hand tool used in farming or gardening to loosen soil, uproot weeds, and prepare land for planting by cutting and scraping the surface

Etymology: Its oldest English ancestor named a body part, not a tool. Old English "hoh" meant "heel," and the same word described a spur or projecting tongue of land, shaped like a heel. The Middle English form "hogh" carried this sense forward, so the earliest English uses point to something jutting out rather than something swung across a field. The tool itself came into English from Old French "houe," which had been borrowed from a Germanic word of the Franks, "hauwa." The root ties it to "hew," the verb for cutting, which suits a blade that chops into the soil. The verb "to hoe," meaning to work ground with the tool, developed from the noun.

Synonyms: tiller, cultivator