wisp
/wɪsp/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.68 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "A wisp of hair escaped her barrette and whipped wildly in the wind."
- "a wisp of a child"
- "in a small basket, on a wisp of hay"
- "A wisp of smoke rose from the candle for a few moments after he blew it out."
- "Across the country a wisp of smoke showed, then gunyahs, and in a moment more we were right in the bush camp."
- "the wisp that flickers where no foot can tread"
Etymology
From Middle English wispe, wyspe, wips, wipse, perhaps from an unrecorded Old English *wisp, *wips. Cognate with West Frisian wisp, Dutch wisp (“bundle of hay or straw”), Norwegian bokmål/Swedish/Bornholm Danish visp (“handful or bundle of grass, hay, etc.”). Akin also to Middle Dutch/Middle Low German wispel (“measure of grain”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: wispe, *wisp
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Medicine.