Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Whisker |
WhiskerNoun1. A long stiff hair growing from the snout or brow of most mammals as e.g. a cat. Verb1. Furnish with whiskers; "a whiskered jersey". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "whisker" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1751. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Electrical Engineering | A pointed fine springy wire used to make rectifying contact with a semiconductor crystal in early radio receivers. Source: European Union. (references) |
Slang in 1811 | WHISKER. A great lie. Source: 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: WhiskerSynonyms: sensory hair (n), vibrissa (n), bewhisker (v). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Roughness | Brush, hair, beard, shag, mane, whisker, moustache, imperial, tress, lock, curl, ringlet; fimbriae, pili, cilia, villi; lovelock; beaucatcher; curl paper; goatee; papillote, scalp lock. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Whisker |
| Specialty definitions using "whisker": Lord ♦ WHISKER SPLITTER. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Whisker" is also a word in the following language with the English translation in parentheses. Portuguese (whisker). |
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Theater & Movies | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | LORD, n. In American society, an English tourist above the state of a costermonger, as, lord 'Aberdasher, Lord Hartisan and so forth. The traveling Briton of lesser degree is addressed as "Sir," as, Sir 'Arry Donkiboi, or 'Amstead 'Eath. The word "Lord" is sometimes used, also, as a title of the Supreme Being; but this is thought to be rather flattery than true reverence. Miss Sallie Ann Splurge, of her own accord, Wedded a wandering English lord -- Wedded and took him to dwell with her "paw," A parent who throve by the practice of Draw. Lord Cadde I don't hesitate to declare Unworthy the father-in-legal care Of that elderly sport, notwithstanding the truth That Cadde had renounced all the follies of youth; For, sad to relate, he'd arrived at the stage Of existence that's marked by the vices of age. Among them, cupidity caused him to urge Repeated demands on the pocket of Splurge, Till, wrecked in his fortune, that gentleman saw Inadequate aid in the practice of Draw, And took, as a means of augmenting his pelf, To the business of being a lord himself. His neat-fitting garments he wilfully shed And sacked himself strangely in checks instead; Denuded his chin, but retained at each ear A whisker that looked like a blasted career. He painted his neck an incarnadine hue Each morning and varnished it all that he knew. The moony monocular set in his eye Appeared to be scanning the Sweet Bye-and-Bye. His head was enroofed with a billycock hat, And his low-necked shoes were aduncous and flat. In speech he eschewed his American ways, Denying his nose to the use of his A's And dulling their edge till the delicate sense Of a babe at their temper could take no offence. His H's -- 'twas most inexpressibly sweet, The patter they made as they fell at his feet! Re-outfitted thus, Mr. Splurge without fear Began as Lord Splurge his recouping career. Alas, the Divinity shaping his end Entertained other views and decided to send His lordship in horror, despair and dismay From the land of the nobleman's natural prey. For, smit with his Old World ways, Lady Cadde Fell -- suffering Caesar! -- in love with her dad! G.J. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Whisker" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 98.91% of the time. "Whisker" is used about 92 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 98.91% | 91 | 34,491 |
| Noun (proper) | 1.09% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 92 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "whisker" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Whisker | Last name | 100 | 76,196 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
Expressions using "whisker": by a whisker ♦ cat whisker ♦ cat's whisker ♦ whisker jack. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "whisker": whisker-growth, whisker-like. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
box and whisker plot | 41 |
whisker biscuit | 37 |
whisker | 21 |
whisker pole | 20 |
box and whisker | 10 |
bisket gallery thumbnail whisker | 5 |
cleaning services whisker zinc | 5 |
bisquit whisker | 4 |
the cat whisker | 4 |
box graph whisker | 4 |
tin whisker | 4 |
whisker biscuit arrow rest | 3 |
bisket whisker | 3 |
whisker lickins | 3 |
rocker.com whisker | 3 |
plot whisker | 2 |
cat plant whisker | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "whisker"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | mustaqe (beard, moustache, mustache, whiskers), favorite (whiskers). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | съвсем малко разстояние, мустак (moustache, mustache), бакенбард. (various references) | |
Chinese | 颊须 (whiskers). (various references) | |
Danish | trikit, krystalkontakt (cat's whisker), haarsten, cat's whisker (cat's whisker). (various references) | |
Dutch | whisker, zoekdraad (cat's whisker), zoekcontact (cat's whisker), naald (needle, pin). (various references) | |
Farsi | موی اطراف گونه وچانه , مودار, ماهوت پاک کن (Brush), طره (Crimp, Ringlet, Tuft), جاروب کوچک (Wisp), ریش (Barb, Beard, Sore, Ulcer, Ulcerous), شارب . (various references) | |
Finnish | viiksilanka (cat's whisker), viiksijohdin (cat's whisker), viiksi (mustachioed, wearing a moustache), sähkövatkain (hand-held mixer, mixer). (various references) | |
French | whisker, trichite, moustache de chat (cat's whisker), fil de contrôle, favoris (side whiskers), chercheur (cat's whisker). (various references) | |
German | Whisker, Sucherkontakt (cat's whisker), Suchdraht (cat's whisker), Prüfdraht (cat's whisker), Haarkristall, Faserkristall, Backenbart (sideboard, sideburn, sideburns, side-whiskers, whiskers). (various references) | |
Greek | σύρμα κατεύθυνσης (cat's whisker), γενειά (whiskers), μουστάκι γάτας (cat's whisker), μουστάκι του γάτου (cat's whisker), παραγναθίσ, ακίδα επαφής διόδου (cat's whisker), ατσαλίνα (cat's whisker), τρίχα προσώπου. (various references) | |
Hungarian | darukar (jib). (various references) | |
Indonesian | kumis (moustache), jambang (pot, vase), godek (side whiskers, sideburns). (various references) | |
Italian | trichite, cercatore (searcher, seeker), baffo di gatto (cat's whisker, pig, rabbit, rabbler, scraper, scratcher). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | ウィンザー家 (House of Windsor, liqueur candy, weak point, week, weekday, weekend, weekend carpenter, weekend father, weekend painter, weekly, whisky, whisky bonbon, whisky sour, window, window shopping, winter, wizard, yes). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | ウイスカー . (various references) | |
Korean | 곳수염 (whiskers). (various references) | |
Manx | robaig (whiskers). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | iskerwhay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | whisker, verga da cevadeira, suíças (sideburns), cristal capilar, bigode de gato. (various references) | |
Romanian | mustãţi, favoriţi (mutton chop, whiskers). (various references) | |
Russian | усы (moustache, mustache), бакенбарды (weepers, whiskers). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | dlaka (braid, hair, pelage, pile). (various references) | |
Spanish | triquito, pelo del bigote, patilla de contacto (cat's whisker), buscador (investigator, prospector, searcher, seeker), bigote de gato (cat's whisker), alambre de presión (cat's whisker). (various references) | |
Swedish | morrhår. (various references) | |
Thai | อย่างเฉีย"ฉิว (by a hair's breadth, by a whisker). (various references) | |
Turkish | sakal kılı, favori (fair boy, favorite, favourite, front runner, side whiskers, sideboards, sideburns, whiskers), bıyık (moustache, mustache, tendril, whiskers). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | віяло (fan), вусик (antenna, barb, cirrus, tendril, tentacle), перебільшення (aggravation, embellishment, exaggeration, hyperbole, outrance, overstatement, stretching). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Middle English | 1100-1500 | wisker. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "whisker": whiskered, whiskers, whiskery. (additional references) | |
Words containing "whisker": bewhiskered. (additional references) | |
| |
"Whisker" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Weiske, whaker, Whimster, whister, whizer, wisker. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "whisker" (pronounced wi"sker or hwi"sker) |
| 4 | -i" s k er | brisker. |
| 3 | -s k er | asker, busker, esker, masker. |
| 4 | -i" s k er | brisker. |
| 3 | -s k er | asker, busker, esker, masker. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "e-h-i-k-r-s-w" | |
-1 letter: hikers, shriek, shrike, wisher. | |
-2 letters: heirs, hiker, hikes, hires, keirs, kiers, sheik, shier, shire, shirk, shrew, siker, skier, weirs, whirs, whisk, wires, wiser, wries. | |
-3 letters: heir, hers, hews, hies, hike, hire, ires, irks, keir, khis, kier, kirs, kris, reis, resh, rise, risk, shew, shri, sike, sire, skew, weir, whir, wire, wise, wish. | |
-4 letters: ers. | |
| Words containing the letters "e-h-i-k-r-s-w" | |
+1 letter: whickers, whiskers, whiskery. | |
+2 letters: shipwreck, shrewlike, whiskered. | |
+3 letters: shipwrecks. | |
+4 letters: bewhiskered, hoodwinkers, shipwrecked. | |
+5 letters: kitchenwares, nightwalkers, shipwrecking. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Quotations: Non-fiction 6. Usage Frequency 7. Names: Frequency 8. Expressions | 9. Expressions: Internet 10. Translations: Modern 11. Translations: Ancient 12. Derivations | 13. Rhymes 14. Anagrams 15. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
