# kerf

> English word · Noun · IPA /kɜː(ɹ)f/

## Definitions
1. The act of cutting or carving something; a stroke or slice.
2. The groove or slit created by cutting or sawing something; an incision.
3. The portion or quantity (e.g. of wood, hay, turf, wool, etc.) removed or cut off in a given stroke.
4. The distance between diverging saw teeth.
5. The flattened, cut-off end of a branch or tree; a stump or sawn-off cross-section.

## Etymology
From Middle English kerf, kirf, kyrf, from Old English cyrf (“an act of cutting, a cutting off; a cutting instrument”), from Proto-West Germanic *kurbi, from Proto-Germanic *kurbiz (“a cut; notch; clipping”), from Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- (“to scratch”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Käärf, West Frisian kerf, Swedish korv. Related also to Dutch kerf, German Low German Karve, Karv, German Kerbe.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/kerf