bill

English

/bɪl/

noun
Definitions
  • Any of various bladed or pointed hand weapons, originally designating an Anglo-Saxon sword, and later a weapon of infantry, especially in the 14th and 15th centuries, commonly consisting of a broad, heavy, double-edged, hook-shaped blade, with a short pike at the back and another at the top, attached to the end of a long staff.
  • A cutting instrument, with hook-shaped point, and fitted with a handle, used in pruning, etc.; a billhook.
  • Somebody armed with a bill; a billman.
  • A pickaxe, or mattock.
  • (nautical) The extremity of the arm of an anchor; the point of or beyond the fluke (also called the peak).

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English bill inherited from Old English bil (bladed weapon) inherited from Proto-Germanic *bilją (axe, blade, sword, peg, nail) derived from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyH- (beat, fear, strike, hew).

Origin

Proto-Indo-European

*bʰeyH-

Gloss

beat, fear, strike, hew

Concept
Semantic Field

Quantity

Ontological Category

Action/Process

Kanji

恐, 虞, 怖, 畏, 慄

Emoji
💓 🥁 🥊 🪘 🫀

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms