Pickaxe

//ˈpɪkˌæks// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A heavy iron tool with a wooden handle; one end of the head is pointed, the other has a chisel edge.

    "He was mining stone using a pickaxe."

  2. 2
    a heavy iron tool with a wooden handle and a curved head that is pointed on both ends wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To use a pickaxe.

Synonyms

All synonyms
billpickpickpickax

Example

More examples

"Should one use a pickaxe or an oar to mine ore?"

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English pykeaxe, pecaxe, pyke exe (“pickaxe”), an alteration (due to folk etymology association with pick and axe) of Middle English pikeyse, pikeys, pykois, from Anglo-Norman *pikeis, Old French picois, pecois, from Latin picōsa (“pickaxe”), from picca, ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *pīk (“sharp point, pike”). Doublet of pique and pike.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.