# whet
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English whetten, from Old English hwettan (“to whet, sharpen, incite, encourage”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwattjan, from Proto-Germanic *hwatjaną (“to incite, sharpen”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷeh₁d- (“sharp”).
Cognate with Dutch wetten (“to whet, sharpen”), German wetzen (“to whet, sharpen”), Icelandic hvetja (“to whet, encourage, catalyze”), dialectal Danish hvæde (“to whet”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈwɛt/, [ˈwɛ(ʔ)t̚]
** (without the wine–whine merger) IPA: /ˈʍɛt/, [ˈʍɛ(ʔ)t̚]
* Audio (US, wine–whine merger):(file)
* Audio (US, without the wine–whine merger):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɛt
* Homophone: wet (wine–whine merger)

### Verb

whet (third-person singular simple present whets, present participle whetting, simple past and past participle whetted or whet)
* (transitive) To hone or rub on with some substance, as a piece of stone, for the purpose of sharpening – see whetstone.
    Synonyms: steel, strop
** c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:Why dost thou whet thy knife so earnestly?
** a. 1645, John Milton, “L’Allegro”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC, page 33:And the Mower whets his ſithe,
** 1812, Lord Byron, “Canto II”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. A Romaunt, London: Printed for John Murray, […]; William Blackwood, Edinburgh; and John Cumming, Dublin; by Thomas Davison, […], →OCLC, stanza XLII:Here roams the wolf, the eagle whets his beak.
* (transitive) To stimulate or make more keen.
    Synonyms: rouse; see also Thesaurus:thrill
    to whet one's appetite or one's courage
** 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:Since Cassius first did whet me against Caesar, / I have not slept.
** 1925-29, Mahadev Desai (translator), M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Part I, chapter xv:
    My faith in vegetarianism grew on me from day to day. Salt's book whetted my appetite for dietetic studies. I went in for all books available on vegetarianism and read them.
** 2003 October 9, Naomi Wolf, “The Porn Myth”, in New York Magazine‎:In the end, porn doesn’t whet men’s appetites—it turns them off the real thing.
* (transitive, obsolete) To preen.
    Synonyms: primp, smarten up

#### Derived terms

* whet someone's appetite
* whetter (rare)
* whetstone

#### Translations
### Noun

whet (plural whets)
* The act of whetting something.
* That which whets or sharpens; especially, an appetizer.
** 1714 July 30 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “MONDAY, July 19, 1714”, in The Spectator, number 569; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume VI, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:sips, drams, and whetsThe spelling has been modernized.
** 1769, Elizabeth Raffald, The Experienced English Housekeeper:To make a nice Whet before Dinner […]
** 1902, Robert Marshall Grade, The Haunted Major:A really good game, to my mind, must have an element, however slight, of physical danger to the player. This is the great whet to skilled performance.

#### Derived terms

* whet slate

### Anagrams

* Thew, thew

## Middle English
### Noun

whet
* Alternative form of whete

## Yola
### Etymology

From Middle English whet, from Old English hwǣte, from Proto-West Germanic *hwaitī.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /hwɛt/

### Noun

whet
* wheat

### References

* Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 78