Other forms: wipers
A wiper is the arm that sweeps rain off the glass. Windscreen wipers, the wipers are on, a wiper blade.
The blade is a strip of rubber that clears water in one pass, and it fails by hardening rather than wearing through, which is why wipers should be changed on time rather than when they tear. Mary Anderson patented the manual version in 1903. Note wiper blade; and that the American term is windshield wiper.
1nounwiperThe arm that sweeps rain off the glass.
“The wipers couldn't keep up with the heavy rain on the windscreen.”
wiper is a vehicle part.
Proto-Indo-European
*weyp- — to twist, wind around
Proto-West Germanic
*wīpōn — to wipe
Old English
wīpian — to wipe, rub, cleanse
Middle English
wipen
English
wipe
English, today
wiper
From wipe + -er. wipe comes from Middle English wipen, from Old English wīpian (“to wipe, rub, cleanse”), from Proto-West Germanic wīpōn (“to wipe”), from Proto-Indo-European weyp- (“to twist, wind around”). Cognate with German wippen (“to bob”), Swedish veva (“to turn, wind, crank”), Gothic 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐍀𐌰𐌽 (“to wreathe, crown”), Old English swīfan (“to revolve, sweep, wend, intervene”), Sanskrit वेपते (“to tremble”). More at swivel, swift.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA