Word for Wednesday: Sharpener

blog home

Our Word for Wednesday theme for September is stationery. 

Stationery comes from the Latin ‘stationarius’ which means ‘tradesman who sells from a station or shop’. The word was first used to describe ‘the articles sold by a stationer’ in 1727.

So far we have looked at the words pencil, pen, and ruler, and today's stationery-themed word is sharpener.

The word sharpener refers to any implement that is used to make something sharper. While the term sharpener dates to the 1630s, the term pencil sharpener is from 1854. 

Both words come from word ‘sharpen’ which dates to the 1520s and in turn comes from the adjective ‘sharp-‘ and the suffix ‘-en’.

'Sharp' comes from the Old English ‘scearp’ which in turn comes from the Proto-Germanic ‘sharpaz’ meaning ‘cutting’. 
 


23 Sep 2020
blog home

"Thank goodness for Spellzone during this remote learning phase. The site is easy for students to navigate independently and they're really enjoying the activities and spelling games. You get an awful lot for your money with Spellzone. Really reassuring is the very prompt response with helpdesk queries. I've very rarely needed the helpdesk, but when I have, the issue has been addressed and sorted within a very short time."

Sarah Taggart, Oasis Academy Lord's Hill