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)

  1. (Britain dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Weak; unstable; unreliable; not to be depended on.

Anagrams

Scots

Etymology

From Middle English wankel, wankill, from Old English wancol (“unsteady, skaky”). More at wonky.

Adjective

wankle (comparative mair wankle, superlative maist wankle)

  1. weak
  2. unsteady
    Your wankle leggs canno support ye / Sae sit ye down, till I exhort ye. ― G. Stuart.
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