wedge

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English wegge, also wedge,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English wecg (“wedge; mass of metal”),^[5][6][3][7] from Proto-Germanic *wagjaz (“wedge”).^[3][7][8][9] It is cognate with Old Saxon weggi, Middle Low German wegge, Middle Dutch wegge and Dutch wig, Old High German weggi and Old Norse veggr, all meaning wedge,^[5][10][8] and with German Weck (“bread roll”), a German dialect word for a wedge-shaped roll.^[3][10][8] No Gothic form is known.^[5] Outside Germanic it matches Lithuanian vagis (“wedge, peg”) and Latvian vadzis (“wedge”), though Kroonen thinks the Baltic words may be borrowed from Germanic.^[8][11] Merriam-Webster and Orel also compare Latin vōmer (“ploughshare”) and Ancient Greek ὄφνις (óphnis, “ploughshare”),^[11][9] Etymonline calls the word of uncertain origin, perhaps related to the Latin word,^[3] and Klein compares Old Prussian wagnis (“ploughshare”).^[12] Skeat took it to mean a mover, from its action in splitting trees, and related it to wag.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

A piece of wood or metal, thick at one end and tapering to a thin edge, used as a tool: Old English, in the Corpus Glossary,^[5] where it translates Latin cuneus.^[6] Old English also used it for a mass or ingot of metal.^[6][5][7]

Semantic evolution

Middle English spellings include wegge, wedge and vegge,^[2] and Chaucer used the word once.^[14] By about 1300 it named a wedge-shaped piece of anything,^[3] from 1577 also a lump or cake of a solid substance.^[5] A formation of troops tapering to the front is recorded from the early 15th century in Etymonline,^[3] but only from 1614 in the OED, which takes it after Latin cuneus;^[5] the V of flying geese followed in 1869.^[5] The ingot sense survived in thieves' cant, where wedge meant silver or money from 1703.^[15][5] Figurative uses date from 1581,^[5] and the thin end of the wedge, a small beginning that may lead to something bigger, from 1856.^[5] In the 20th century wedge was used of anything that divides people (1913), of women's shoes and heels (1939) and of a hairstyle (1976);^[3] the political wedge issue is dated 1986 by Etymonline^[3] and 1976 by Popik.^[16] The verb, to tighten with a wedge, is recorded from about 1440,^[5][3] to squeeze into a tight space from 1513,^[5] to split with a wedge from 1530,^[5] and to pack people or animals together from 1720.^[5][3] In Northern and Midland dialects the word was also pronounced wadge or wodge.^[17]

Timeline

• Old English – a wedge; a mass of metal.^[5][6]
• c. 1300 – a wedge-shaped piece.^[3]
• c. 1440 – verb, to fasten with a wedge.^[5]
• 1513 – verb, to squeeze into a tight space.^[5]
• 1577 – a lump of a solid substance.^[5]
• 1581 – figurative use.^[5]
• 1614 – a wedge-shaped formation of troops.^[5]
• 1703 – cant, silver, money.^[15]
• 1856 – the thin end of the wedge.^[5]
• 1913 – anything that divides people.^[3]
• 1939 – a woman's shoe or heel.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A block of wood, metal or other hard material, thick at one end and tapering to a thin edge, driven in to split something, lift a heavy object or hold something tight.^{[18][11][19][5]}
2. A piece or shape like a wedge: a wedge of lemon.^[18][11]
3. Something that tends to divide people or groups.^[18][3]
4. A shoe with a wedge heel.^[18][3]
5. (golf) A club with a steeply angled face, used for short, high shots or for playing out of a bunker.^[18]
6. A military formation that narrows to a point at the front.^[5]
7. (US, regional) A hero sandwich.^[20][21]
8. the thin end of the wedge: a small first step that may lead to something larger and unwelcome.^[5]

Verb

1. To fasten or hold tight with a wedge: They wedged the door open with a folded newspaper.^[11][19][5]
2. To force or squeeze into a narrow space; to cram.^[19][11][5]
3. To force one's way into or through a crowd.^[19][5]
4. To split or force apart with a wedge.^[19][5]

Word family

• wedgelike
• unwedge
• wedgie
• wedgy
• wedge issue
• flying wedge

Related words

• wodge

Usage notes

A separate pottery verb wedge, to cut and knead wet clay to drive out air bubbles, is recorded from 1686 and is of obscure origin; its earlier form was wage.^[5][22]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
7. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
11. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
13. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
14. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
15. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
16. ^ Popik, Barry, The Big Apple, barrypopik.com, p. "Wedge Issue", 29 September 2010
17. ^ 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)
18. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
19. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
20. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
21. ^ Popik, Barry, The Big Apple, barrypopik.com, p. "Wedge Sandwich", 9 May 2026
22. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press