Blunt

How to spell blunt

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce blunt

What does blunt mean?

1. adjectiveHaving a dull edge or point rather than a sharp one; also, plain and direct in speech to the point of seeming rude.
2. verbTo make something less sharp, intense, or effective.

Blunt in a sentence

• adjective

  The old kitchen knife was too blunt to slice the tomato cleanly.

• verb

  A heavy lunch can blunt your concentration in the afternoon.

• adjective

  Her blunt assessment of the budget upset several managers.

• verb

  Repeated cutting on the steel plate will blunt the chisel.

Where does blunt come from?

Language of origin: Old Norse

Blunt first appears in Middle English around the thirteenth century, originally meaning dull, stupid, or sluggish rather than describing a dull edge. Its earliest origin is genuinely uncertain, but many scholars link it to Old Norse, comparing it with blundra, meaning to shut the eyes or doze, and with blunda, to close the eyes, suggesting an underlying idea of dimness or dullness of perception. From describing a dull-witted person, the sense shifted to describe a dull, unsharpened tool or weapon, and later to speech that is plain, abrupt, and without softening. Because the word is so short and phonetically regular, the spelling never strayed far from its early forms, and the modern blunt simply preserves that compact shape. The lack of a clear documented ancestor is why its origin is still listed as uncertain in the major dictionaries.

How the word is built

• blunt (single Germanic-style root; no prefix or suffix)