razor

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English rasour,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French rasor, also raseor and rasour,^[2][5][6][7] from raser (“to scrape, shave”), the source of raze,^[8][9][6] with the agent suffix -or.^[5][6][3] The Anglo-Norman form is recorded from the first half of the 12th century, as rasuir and rasur, also of a scalpel and of the razor-fish.^[10][11] The OED takes it partly from Late Latin rasorium (“instrument for shaving”) as well, formed from rās-, the past participial stem of rādō (“to scrape, shave”), with the suffix -ōrium.^[10] Etymonline and Ayto derive the French verb from Vulgar Latin *rāsō, a frequentative of the same Latin verb,^[2][8] which is also the source of abrade, erase and possibly rascal.^[8] The Old French form was later replaced by rasoir, from a Romance *rāsōrium.^[6][12] The OED compares Old Occitan rasor, Catalan raor and Italian rasoio.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A sharp-edged instrument, especially one for shaving or cutting hair: c. 1300, in the South English Legendary life of St Laurence,^[10][2] probably before 1300 in Kyng Alisaunder according to Barnhart,^[13][5] with the spelling razur from 1392.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Already in the 14th century the word was also used of the razor shell, a bivalve whose shell is shaped like an old folding razor (c. 1311),^[10][2] and in the 16th century of certain fishes.^[10] Figurative use is recorded from before 1439, in Lydgate, especially in on the razor's edge, which follows a phrase in ancient Greek;^[10] Etymonline dates razor edge, of sharpness, to the 1680s.^[2] Between 1660 and 1706 a boar's tusk could be called a razor.^[10] Johnson (1755) defined it as a knife with a thick blade and fine edge used in shaving, and quoted Shakespeare's "These words are razors to my wounded heart".^[14] The verb, to shave or cut with a razor, appears in 1783,^[10] and in 1878 in the sense of slashing a person with a razor.^[10][2] At Yale in the mid-19th century a pun was called a razor.^[15] In Cheshire the word was pronounced razzer or razzur.^[16]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – a sharp instrument for shaving or cutting hair.^[10][2]
• c. 1311 – the razor shell.^[10]
• 1392 – the spelling razur.^[5]
• before 1439 – figurative use, as in on the razor's edge.^[10]
• 1530 – a fish, the razor-fish (obsolete).^[10]
• 1660 – a boar's tusk (obsolete by 1706).^[10]
• 1783 – verb, to shave or cut with a razor.^[10]
• 1849 – American college slang, a pun.^[15]
• 1878 – verb, to slash a person with a razor.^[10]
• 1959 – verb, to move or cut with a razor-like action.^[10]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A sharp-edged instrument for shaving the face or body or cutting hair, such as a straight razor, a safety razor or an electric one: He packed a razor and a toothbrush for the night.
2. on a razor's edge: in a very dangerous or uncertain position.

Verb

1. To shave or cut with, or as if with, a razor.
2. To slash a person with a razor.

Word family

• razorless
• razorback
• razorbill
• razorfish
• razor-backed
• unrazored
• Occam's razor
• razor-billed auk

Related words

• raze
• rase
• erase
• abrade
• rascal
• razor clam

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
12. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
16. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)