sharp
/ʃɑɹp/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.48 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Terminating in a point or edge, especially one that can cut or pierce easily; not dull, obtuse, or rounded.
Example Sentences
- "I keep my knives sharp so that they don't slip unexpectedly while carving."
- "Ernest made the pencil too sharp and accidentally stabbed himself with it."
- "a face with sharp features"
- "Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must have it barbed, and that was a little beyond our skill."
- "If a knife which is sharp is incorrectly used it will obviously be dangerous."
- "Fifteen children reported handling curvos, five machetes, and one a sharp knife used to cut yellow leaves off the banana plants."
Etymology
From Middle English scharp, from Old English sċearp, from Proto-West Germanic *skarp, from Proto-Germanic *skarpaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kerb-, from *(s)ker- (“to cut”). Cognate with West Frisian skerp, Low German scherp, scharp, schaarp, Dutch scherp, German scharf, Danish skarp. Compare Irish cearb (“keen; cutting”), Latin acerbus (“tart, bitter”), Tocharian B kärpye (“rough”), Latvian skârbs (“sharp, rough”), Russian щерба (ščerba, “notch”), Polish szczerba (“gap, dent, jag, chip, nick, notch”), Albanian harb (“rudeness”). More at shear.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ʃɑɹp/
- British English: /ʃɑːp/