Other forms: whetstones
A whetstone is a stone used to sharpen a blade. Run it over the whetstone, a fine whetstone, wet the whetstone.
Sharpening removes metal to make a thinner edge, and the angle held against the stone is what decides the result — a steady angle matters more than the stone. A steel does not sharpen but straightens a rolled edge. Note whet, meaning to sharpen, which survives in whet your appetite.
1nounwhetstoneA stone used to sharpen a blade.
“Before cooking, the chef drew his knife across a whetstone several times.”
whetstone is a sharpening stone.
Old English hwetstan is whet, to sharpen, plus stone. Whet survives in the phrase whet your appetite.
Proto-West Germanic
*hwattjastain — whetstone
Old English
hwetstān
Middle English
whestone
English, today
whetstone
From Middle English whestone, whetston, whetesston, from Old English hwetstān, from Proto-West Germanic hwattjastain (“whetstone”). Equivalent to whet + stone.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA