hatchet

From Middle English hachet, a borrowing from Old French hachete, diminutive of hache (“axe”), from Frankish *hapja, *happija, from Proto-Germanic *hapjō, *habjō (“knife”), from Proto-Indo-European *kop- (“to strike, to beat”). Cognate with Old High German happa, heppa, habba (“reaper, sickle”), German Hippe (“billhook”).

• Rhymes: -ætʃɪt

hatchet (plural hatchets)

1. A small light axe with a short handle; a tomahawk.
   • Longfellow

     Buried was the bloody hatchet.

hatchet (third-person singular simple present hatchets, present participle hatcheting or hatchetting, simple past and past participle hatcheted or hatchetted)

1. (transitive) To cut with a hatchet.