Razor

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈɹeɪzə/

Definitions

1. A handheld implement featuring a keen blade, primarily utilized for shaving or cutting hair
2. A device with a finely honed edge used for removing hair from the skin ; an instrument designed for slicing or trimming materials with accuracy
3. An implement equipped with a sharp blade to shave or trim hair closely ; a tool employed to execute exact cuts in various substances

Etymology: The most surprising fact here is that English once had its own word for this tool, and lost it. Old English speakers called a razor a "sċierseax," literally a "shaving knife," built from the same elements as the modern word "shear" and "seax," a short blade. Middle English speakers then borrowed the French "rasour" instead, and that word displaced the native term. The French word came from "raser," meaning "to scrape" or "to shave," a verb that also gave English "raze," to scrape a building down to its foundations. The connection looks obvious, and dictionaries often describe the English "razor" as formed from "raze" plus the suffix "-or," but that is only how the word looks on the surface. The French verb's ancestry is older and separate from the English verb's sense. The result is a tool named for the act of scraping, not for any cutting edge. Old English had a more literal name, and the borrowed French one won out by simply describing what the blade does against skin.

Synonyms: blade, cutter, shaver, knife, scalpel