# whittle

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈwɪtəl/ · frequency rank #36,012

## Definitions
1. A knife; especially, a clasp-knife, pocket knife, or sheath knife.

## Etymology
From Middle English whittel (“large knife”), an alteration of thwitel, itself from thwiten (“to whittle”), from Old English þwītan (“to strike down, whittle”), from Proto-Germanic *þwītaną, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *twey- (“to shake, hurl, toss”). Compare Old Norse þveita (“to hurl”), Ancient Greek σείω (seíō, “I shake”). Related to thwite and thwaite.

## Easily confused with
- **while** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/while-vs-whittle)
- **white** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/white-vs-whittle)
- **whistle** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whistle-vs-whittle)
- **Whitley** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whitley-vs-whittle)
- **Whipple** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whipple-vs-whittle)
- **whistler** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whistler-vs-whittle)
- **Whittier** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whittier-vs-whittle)

## Common misspellings (9)
`hwittle`, `whhittle`, `whitle`, `whitlte`, `whittel`, `whittlle`, `whtitle`, `wihttle`, `wwhittle`

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