hammer
/ˈhæmɚ/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.16 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The malleus, a small bone of the middle ear.
Example Sentences
- "Bobby used a hammer and nails to fix the two planks together."
- "Men shove statues off pedestals, and use hammers and drills to destroy what’s left."
- "The nail is too loose—give it a hammer."
- "The sound the piano makes comes from the hammers striking the strings"
- "St. Augustine was the hammer of heresies."
- "He met the stern legionaries [of Rome] who had been the massive iron hammers of the whole earth."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *hamaraz Proto-West Germanic *hamar Old English hamor Middle English hamer English hammer From Middle English hamer, from Old English hamor, from Proto-West Germanic *hamar, from Proto-Germanic *hamaraz (“tool with a stone head”) (compare West Frisian hammer, Low German Hamer, Dutch hamer, German Hammer, Danish hammer, Swedish hammare). This is traditionally ascribed to Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱmoros, from *h₂éḱmō (“stone”), but see *hamaraz for further discussion. (declare a defaulter on the stock exchange): Originally signalled by knocking with a wooden mallet.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈhæmɚ/
- British English: /ˈhæmə/