Wedge

How to spell wedge

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce wedge

What does wedge mean?

1. nounA piece of something with one thick end tapering to a thin edge, used to split, lift, or hold things firm.
2. verbTo force or squeeze something into a tight or narrow space, or to fix it firmly in place.

Wedge in a sentence

• noun

  He drove a wooden wedge under the door to keep it open.

• verb

  He tried to wedge his suitcase into the crowded overhead locker.

• noun

  She cut the cheese into a neat triangular wedge.

• verb

  Workers had to wedge the heavy crate between the two pillars.

Where does wedge come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Wedge comes straight from the Old English noun wecg, which named a tapered block of wood or metal used to split or lift things, and could also mean an ingot or lump of metal. It belongs to a wider Germanic family, with relatives such as Old Norse veggr and modern Dutch wig and German Weck, all pointing back to a shared Germanic root for a tapered chunk. The everyday tool sense has stayed remarkably stable for more than a thousand years, since a thin sloping block has always been used to force two things apart or to hold something firm. From that physical idea English later grew the figurative verb, meaning to jam or squeeze into a tight space, and modern uses like a wedge of cheese, a wedge heel on a shoe, and a wedge in golf. The spelling preserves the soft g sound with the silent d before it, a familiar pattern also seen in bridge, ledge, and hedge.

How the word is built

• wedge (a whole word from Old English wecg; no separable prefix or suffix)