Winnowers

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A device or tool used to separate grain from chaff by blowing air through it
2. Individuals who participate in the process of distinguishing valuable elements from less useful ones
3. The act of removing unwanted material from a mixture, often to enhance quality or purity

Etymology: The word is the plural of "winnower", which is itself a simple formation: the verb "winnow" with the agent suffix "-er" added, meaning one who winnows. The verb "winnow" is an old English word for separating grain from chaff by tossing it in a current of air, so its meaning is literal and agricultural at its core. The modern sense of removing unwanted material from a mixture grew out of that threshing picture. The suffix has a longer ancestry than the verb. "-er" descends through Old English "-ere", which was itself an inherited Germanic form, and it is traceable back through Proto-Germanic and the Latin suffix "-arius", which had the sense of a person concerned with something. The same Latin ending passed into Old French as "-ier" and entered Middle English as "-er", so the ending that makes "winnower" a person-word is one of the most widely reused suffixes in English.

Synonyms: separators, sifters