wharf

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Germanic *hwerbaną

Proto-West Germanic *hwerban

Old English hweorfan

Middle English wharf

English wharf

From Middle English wharf, from Old English hwearf (“heap, embankment, wharf”); related to Old English hweorfan (“to turn”), Old Saxon hwerf (whence German Werft and Warft), Dutch werf, Old High German hwarb (“a turn”), hwerban (“to turn”), Old Norse hvarf (“circle”), and Ancient Greek καρπός (karpós, “wrist”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈwɔːf/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈwɔɹf/
  • (without the wine–whine merger) IPA^(key): /ˈʍɔɹf/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)f

Noun

wharf (plural wharves or wharfs)

1. (nautical) An artificial landing place for ships on a riverbank or shore.

   Synonyms: dock, quay

   Hyponyms: jetty, pier, (Northern England) staith, (Northern England) staithe

   • 1834–1874, George Bancroft, History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent, volume (please specify |volume=I to X), Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company [et al.], →OCLC:

     Commerce pushes its wharves into the sea.

   • 1842, Alfred Tennyson, “The Lady of Shalott”, in Poems. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, part IV, page 86:

     Out upon the wharfs they came, / Knight and burgher, lord and dame, / And round the prow they read her name, / The Lady of Shalott.

2. The bank of a river, or the shore of the sea.
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v]:

     the fat weed that roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf

Derived terms

• Canary Wharf
• government wharf
• Red Wharf Bay
• wharfage
• wharf borer
• wharfie
• wharfinger
• wharfless
• wharf rat
• wharf roach

 

Translations

artificial landing place

• Albanian: skelë (sq)
• Arabic: رَصِيف m (raṣīf)

  Egyptian Arabic: معبر m (maʕbar)

• Armenian: նավակայան (hy) (navakayan), նավամատույց (hy) (navamatuycʻ)
• Azerbaijani: iskele
• Belarusian: пры́стань f (prýstanʹ), прыча́л m (pryčál), док m (dok)
• Bulgarian: при́стан (bg) m (prístan), кей (bg) m (kej)
• Burmese: ဆိပ် (my) (hcip), ဆိပ်ကမ်း (my) (hcipkam:)
• Catalan: moll (ca) m, embarcador m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 碼頭 / 码头 (zh) (mǎtóu), 港埠 (zh) (gǎngbù), 埠頭 / 埠头 (zh) (bùtóu)

• Czech: přístaviště (cs) n, molo (cs) n, přístavní hráz
• Danish: kaj (da) c
• Dutch: kade (nl) f, kaai (nl) f, aanlegsteiger (nl) m
• Esperanto: varfo
• Estonian: kai (et)
• Finnish: laituri (fi)
• French: quai (fr) m, appontement (fr) m
• Galician: caes m, cai m, peirao (gl) m, peirau m, pantalán m, embarcadoiro (gl) m
• Georgian: ნავმისადგომი (ka) (navmisadgomi), მისადგომი (misadgomi)
• German: Kai (de) m, Wharf m
• Greek: αποβάθρα (el) f (apováthra)
• Hindi: घाट (hi) m (ghāṭ), जेटी (hi) f (jeṭī)
• Hungarian: rakpart (hu)
• Ido: warfo (io)
• Irish: cé f
• Italian: attracco (it) m
• Japanese: 波止場 (ja) (はとば, hatoba), 埠頭 (ja) (ふとう, futō), 桟橋 (ja) (さんばし, sanbashi)
• Kazakh: айлақ (ailaq), кемежай (kemejai)
• Khmer: ផែ (km) (phae), តីរវិថី (km) (təyrĕəʼvithəy)
• Korean: 부두 (ko) (budu), 선창 (ko) (seonchang)
• Kyrgyz: пристань (ky) (pristan)
• Lao: ທ່າ (thā), ທ່າເຮືອ (lo) (thā hư̄a), ທ່າຈອດ (thā chǭt)
• Latin: navalia n pl
• Macedonian: пристан m (pristan), пристаниште n (pristanište)
• Malay: dermaga
• Maori: wāpu
• Middle English: wharf
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kai (no) m or f, brygge (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: kai f or m, brygge f, bryggje f

• Persian: اسکله (fa) (eskele)
• Polish: przystań (pl) f, keja (pl) f
• Portuguese: cais (pt) m, embarcadoiro (pt) m, ancoradouro (pt) m, fundeadouro m, embarcadouro (pt) m
• Romanian: chei (ro) n, doc (ro) n
• Russian: при́стань (ru) f (prístanʹ), прича́л (ru) m (pričál), док (ru) m (dok)
• Sanskrit: घट्ट (sa) m (ghaṭṭa)
• Scottish Gaelic: laimrig f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: пристаниште n

  Roman: pristanište (sh) n

• Slovak: prístavisko n
• Slovene: pomol (sl) m
• Spanish: embarcadero (es) m, muelle (es) m
• Swedish: kaj (sv) c
• Tajik: искала (iskala)
• Thai: ท่าน้ำ (tâa-náam), ท่า (th) (tâa), ท่าเทียบเรือ (tâa-tîiap-rʉʉa)
• Turkish: iskele (tr)
• Ukrainian: при́стань f (prýstanʹ), прича́л m (pryčál), док m (dok)
• Urdu: گھاٹ m (ghāṭ)
• Uzbek: pristan (uz), iskala
• Vietnamese: bến tàu (vi)
• Welsh: glanfa f
• Yiddish: דאָק m (dok)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 碼頭 / 码头 (zh) (mǎtóu)

• Danish: ^{(please verify)} brygge c
• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} werf (nl) m, ^{(please verify)} kade (nl) f
• French: ^{(please verify)} quai (fr) m, ^{(please verify)} appontement (fr) m
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} molo (it) m, ^{(please verify)} banchina (it) f, ^{(please verify)} pontile (it) m
• Persian: ^{(please verify)} بندرگاه (fa) (bandargâh)

Verb

wharf (third-person singular simple present wharfs, present participle wharfing, simple past and past participle wharfed)

1. (transitive) To secure by a wharf.
2. (transitive) To place on a wharf.

Further reading

• wharf on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• wharf (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Middle English

Alternative forms

• wherf, wharfe, warrf, wharghfe

Etymology

Inherited from Old English hweorfan, from Proto-West Germanic *hwerban, from Proto-Germanic *hwerbaną.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hwarf/

Noun

wharf (plural wharves)

1. wharf

Derived terms

• wharfage

Descendants

• English: wharf
• Scots: wharf

References

• “wharf, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-12-12.