different between swarf vs kerf

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /sw??f/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /sw??f/
• Rhymes: -??(?)f, -??f

Etymology 1

From Middle English *swarf, *swerf, from Old English ?eswearf, ?esweorf (“iron filings; rust”) and/or Old Norse svarf (“metallic dust”), both from Proto-Germanic *swarb? (“that which is rubbed off; shavings”), from Proto-Germanic *swerban? (“to mop, wipe; to rub off”); see further at swerve. The word is cognate to Old English sweorfan (“to rub, scour; to file”).

Noun

swarf (countable and uncountable, plural swarfs)

1. (uncountable) The waste chips or shavings from an abrasive activity, such as metalworking, a saw cutting wood, or the use of a grindstone or whetstone. [from mid 16th c.]
2. (countable) A particular waste chip or shaving.

Synonyms

• (chips or shavings): turnings

Related terms

• swerve

Translations

Verb

swarf (third-person singular simple present swarfs, present participle swarfing, simple past and past participle swarfed)

1. (transitive) To grind down.

Etymology 2

From Middle English swarven, swerven (“to go; to deviate, turn aside; to stagger, be unsteady; to swerve”), from Old English sweorfan (“to wipe; to polish; to rub, scour; to file”), from Proto-Germanic *swerban? (“to mop, wipe; to rub off”). The word is cognate to Middle Dutch swerven (“to rove; to stray”) (whence Dutch zwerven (“to roam”)), Low German swarven (“to rove; to stray; to riot”), Old Norse svarfa (“to sweep; to be agitated, upset”), Norwegian svarva (“to agitate”), sverva (“to whirl”). See swerve.

Verb

swarf (third-person singular simple present swarfs, present participle swarfing, simple past and past participle swarfed)

1. (intransitive, Scotland, obsolete) To grow languid; to faint.

Noun

swarf (plural swarfs)

1. (obsolete) A faint or swoon.

References

Further reading

• swarf on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• FWSAR, Warfs

English

Etymology

From Middle English kerf, kirf, kyrf, from Old English cyrf (“an act of cutting, a cutting off; a cutting instrument”), from Proto-Germanic *kurbiz (“a cut; notch”), from Proto-Indo-European *gerb?- (“to scratch”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??f/
• Rhymes: -??(?)f

Noun

kerf (plural kerfs)

1. (now rare) The act of cutting or carving something; a stroke or slice.
2. The groove or slit created by cutting or sawing something; an incision.
3. The distance between diverging saw teeth.
   • 1991, Popular Mechanics, January issue, page 63, "Thin-kerf blades", by Rosario Capotostro

     Sawing with a thin-kerf blade produces a kerf that's 1/2 to 1/3 the size of a standard blade kerf.

4. The flattened, cut-off end of a branch or tree; a stump or sawn-off cross-section.
5. The portion or quantity (e.g. of hay, turf, wool, etc.) cut off in a given stroke.

Related terms

• carve
• swarf

Translations

Verb

kerf (third-person singular simple present kerfs, present participle kerfing, simple past and past participle kerfed)

1. To cut a piece of wood or other material with several kerfs to allow it to be bent.

References

• kerf in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911. (Supplement)

Anagrams

• f**ker, ferk

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?rf/
• Hyphenation: kerf
• Rhymes: -?rf

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch kerve. The sense “insect” was borrowed from German Kerf.

Noun

kerf m (plural kerven, diminutive kerfje n)

1. a carve or groove
2. (rare, obsolete) insect

   Synonyms: insect, kerfdier, gekorven dier

Derived terms

• kerfbank
• kerfdier
• kerfstok

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Verb

kerf

1. first-person singular present indicative of kerven
2. imperative of kerven