different between wafer vs wafter

English

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman wafre, waufre (Old French gaufre), from a Germanic source. Compare Middle Low German w?fel, Middle Dutch wafel (“honeycomb”), West Flemish wafer. See also waffle.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?we?f?/
• Rhymes: -e?f?(?)

Noun

wafer (plural wafers)

1. A light, thin, flat biscuit/cookie.
2. (Christianity) A thin disk of consecrated unleavened bread used in communion.
3. A soft disk originally made of flour, and later of gelatin or a similar substance, used to seal letters, attach papers etc.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society 1973, p. 202:

     The house supplied him with a wafer for his present purpose, with which, having sealed his letter, he returned hastily towards the brook side, in order to search for the things which he had there lost.

4. (electronics) A thin disk of silicon or other semiconductor on which an electronic circuit is produced.

Synonyms

• (religion): host

Derived terms

• waferless
• waferlike
• wafery

Translations

Verb

wafer (third-person singular simple present wafers, present participle wafering, simple past and past participle wafered)

1. (transitive) To seal or fasten with a wafer.
   • 1775, Frances Burney, Journals & Letters, Penguin 2001, 4 March:

     [M]y Father, who knew he was well, wafered the paragraph upon a sheet of paper, and sent to his Lodgings.

   • 1913, Joseph Conrad, Chance, New York: Doubleday, Doran & Company, p. 81:

     [T]he beginning of de Barral's end became manifest to the public in the shape of a half-sheet of note-paper wafered by the four corners on the closed door […].

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English wafer.

Noun

wafer m (plural wafers)

1. wafer (electronic component)

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English wafer.

Noun

wafer m (invariable)

1. wafer (biscuit and electronic component)

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from English wafer.

Noun

wafer m (plural wafers)

1. wafer (type of biscuit)
2. (electronics) wafer (disk on which an electronic circuit is produced)

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?w?ft?(?)/

Etymology 1

Alteration of Middle English waughter, from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German wachter (“a guard”), from wachten (“to guard”).

Noun

wafter (plural wafters)

1. (obsolete) Armed convoy or escort ship
2. (obsolete) An agent of the Crown with responsibility for protecting specific maritime activities, such as shipping or fishing.

Etymology 2

waft +? -er.

Noun

wafter (plural wafters)

1. One who, or that which, wafts.

   • Thou wafter of the soul to bliss or bane.