wankle
English
Etymology
From Middle English wankel, from Old English wancol (“unstable, unsteady, tottering, vacillating, weak”), from Proto-Germanic *wankulaz (“unsteady, wavering”), from Proto-Indo-European *wank-, *wak-, *wek-, *weg- (“to be unsteady; crooked”). Cognate with Dutch wankel (“shaky, unstable”), Middle High German wankel (“unsteady”), German wanken (“to waver, totter”). See also wonky.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈwæŋkəl/
- Rhymes: -æŋkəl
Adjective
wankle (comparative more wankle, superlative most wankle)
- (Britain dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Weak; unstable; unreliable; not to be depended on.
Scots
Etymology
From Middle English wankel, wankill, from Old English wancol (“unsteady, skaky”). More at wonky.
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.