# razor
## English
### Alternative forms

* razour (obsolete)

### Etymology

From Middle English rasour, from Old French rasour, from raser (“to scrape, to shave”). More at rat.
Displaced native Old English sċierseax (literally “shaving knife”).

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈɹeɪzə/
* (General American) IPA: /ˈɹeɪzɚ/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Hyphenation: ra‧zor
* Rhymes: -eɪzə(ɹ)

### Noun

razor (plural razors)
* A keen-edged knife of peculiar shape, used in shaving the hair from the face or other parts of the body.
* Any tool or instrument designed for shaving.
** 2007 July 1, Jake Mooney, “For Aficionados of Shaving, la Crème de la Crème”, in The New York Times‎:These are fellows who shun the three-, four- and five-blade contraptions and canned goops for an older mode of shaving that they insist remains the ideal: a straight razor or a safety razor with a double-edged blade, and a fine English cream lathered and applied with a badger-hair brush.
** 2013, Robert L. Buyer, Ursula T. Coute, Following the North Star, page 26:The box was jam packed full o' gifts for each manjack of us: razors, aftershave, toothbrushes, an' books.
* The sharp tusk of a wild boar.
* (philosophy) A conceptual device that allows one to shave away unlikely explanations for a phenomenon.
    Occam's razor, Hanlon's razor

#### Derived terms

* Alder's razor
* Blore's razor
* cutthroat razor
* cut-throat razor
* disposable razor
* electric razor
* Gould's razor shell
* Hanlon's razor
* Hitchens' razor
* Hitchens's razor
* Occam's razor
* open razor
* razor and blades
* razor-backed
* razor-billed auk
* razor-billed curassow
* razor blade
* razor bump
* razor burn
* razor clam
* razor comb
* razor cream
* razor eye
* razor grass
* razor grinder
* razorlike
* razor paste
* razor sharp
* razor-sharp
* razor shell
* razor strap
* razor strop
* razor thin
* razor-thin
* razor wire
* razor-wired
* razory
* safety razor
* stepping razor
* straight razor

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Verb

razor (third-person singular simple present razors, present participle razoring, simple past and past participle razored)
* (transitive) To shave with a razor.
** 1868, George MacDonald, chapter 6, in Guild Court‎, volume 3, London: Hurst & Blackett, page 137:He thought likewise, that what with razoring and tanning, and the change of his clothes, he was not likely to be recognised.
** 1996, George R. R. Martin, “Tyrion”, in A Game of Thrones‎, New York: Bantam, published 2016, page 641:Lord Tywin did not believe in half measures. He razored his lip and chin as well, but kept his side-whiskers, two great thickets of wiry golden hair that covered most of his cheeks from ear to jaw.
** 2008 April 13, Sara Corbett, “Can the Cellphone Help End Global Poverty?”, in New York Times‎:He might be busy examining the advertisements for prostitutes stuck up in a São Paulo phone booth, or maybe getting his ear hairs razored off at a barber shop in Vietnam.

#### Derived terms

* razorable (obsolete)

#### References

* Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “razor”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.