waffle.
A flat pastry pressed with a grid pattern, often eaten hot with butter and/or honey or syrup.
Meaning & usage
A flat pastry pressed with a grid pattern, often eaten hot with butter and/or honey or syrup.
The brunch was waffles with strawberries and whipped cream.
In full potato waffle: a savoury flat potato cake with the same kind of grid pattern.
A concrete slab used in flooring with a gridlike structure of ribs running at right angles to each other on its underside.
A type of fabric woven with a honeycomb texture.
Where this word comes from
The noun is borrowed from Dutch wafel (“waffle; wafer”), from Middle Dutch wafel, wafele, wavel, from Old Dutch *wāvila, from Proto-Germanic *wēbilǭ, *wēbilō, possibly related to Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“to braid, weave”) (whence Dutch weven (“to weave”) and English weave; compare, from the same verbal root, German Wabe (“honeycomb”), given that the grid pattern of the traditional Dutch lent and holiday pastry strikingly resembles a honeycomb), and possibly reinforced by German Waffel (“waffle; wafer”). The English word is a doublet of wafer and gauffre. The verb (“to smash”) derives from the manner in which batter is pressed into the shape of a waffle between the two halves of a waffle iron.
To smash (something).
Where this word comes from
The noun is borrowed from Dutch wafel (“waffle; wafer”), from Middle Dutch wafel, wafele, wavel, from Old Dutch *wāvila, from Proto-Germanic *wēbilǭ, *wēbilō, possibly related to Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“to braid, weave”) (whence Dutch weven (“to weave”) and English weave; compare, from the same verbal root, German Wabe (“honeycomb”), given that the grid pattern of the traditional Dutch lent and holiday pastry strikingly resembles a honeycomb), and possibly reinforced by German Waffel (“waffle; wafer”). The English word is a doublet of wafer and gauffre. The verb (“to smash”) derives from the manner in which batter is pressed into the shape of a waffle between the two halves of a waffle iron.
To speak or write evasively or vaguely.
He waffled on for much of the earnings call without addressing the fall in share price.
Of a bird: to move in a side-to-side motion while descending before landing.
The geese waffled as they approached the water.
Of an aircraft or motor vehicle: to travel in a slow and unhurried manner.
To be indecisive about something; to dither, to vacillate, to waver.
Often followed by on: to speak or write (something) at length without any clear aim or point; to ramble.
To hold horizontally and rotate (one's hand) back and forth in a gesture of ambivalence or vacillation.
Where this word comes from
The verb is borrowed from Scots waffle (“to waver, flap, flutter”), from waff (“to wag, wave; to flap, flutter”) + -le (diminutive or frequentative suffix), from Middle Scots waff (“signal; gust of wind; glimpse; a flapping, waving”), from Northern Middle English wafe, waffe, a variant of waven (“to move to and fro, sway; to stray, wander; (figuratively) to follow a weaving course; (figuratively) to vacillate, waver; to move something to and fro, wave”) (whence wave), from Old English wafian (“to wave”), from Proto-Germanic *wabōną, *wabjaną (“to sway; to wander”), from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“to braid, weave”). Regarding sense 5 (“to speak or write (something) at length without any clear aim or point”), compare Old English wæflian (“to talk foolishly”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Germanic *babalōną (“to babble, chatter”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰā- (“to say”) and/or Proto-Indo-European *baba- (“to talk vaguely; to mumble”). The Oxford English Dictionary does not derive the English word waffle from this Old English word. Compare also Dutch wauwelen (“to linger, waffle, jabber, gab, chat”). The noun is derived from the verb.
(Often lengthy) speech or writing that is evasive or vague, or pretentious.
This interesting point seems to get lost a little within a lot of self-important waffle.
Where this word comes from
The verb is borrowed from Scots waffle (“to waver, flap, flutter”), from waff (“to wag, wave; to flap, flutter”) + -le (diminutive or frequentative suffix), from Middle Scots waff (“signal; gust of wind; glimpse; a flapping, waving”), from Northern Middle English wafe, waffe, a variant of waven (“to move to and fro, sway; to stray, wander; (figuratively) to follow a weaving course; (figuratively) to vacillate, waver; to move something to and fro, wave”) (whence wave), from Old English wafian (“to wave”), from Proto-Germanic *wabōną, *wabjaną (“to sway; to wander”), from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“to braid, weave”). Regarding sense 5 (“to speak or write (something) at length without any clear aim or point”), compare Old English wæflian (“to talk foolishly”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Germanic *babalōną (“to babble, chatter”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰā- (“to say”) and/or Proto-Indo-European *baba- (“to talk vaguely; to mumble”). The Oxford English Dictionary does not derive the English word waffle from this Old English word. Compare also Dutch wauwelen (“to linger, waffle, jabber, gab, chat”). The noun is derived from the verb.
Of a dog: to bark with a high pitch like a puppy, or in muffled manner.
Where this word comes from
Possibly from waff (“(dialectal) to bark, woof”) (imitative of a dog’s yelp) + -le (diminutive or frequentative suffix).
The high-pitched sound made by a young dog; also, a muffled bark.
Where this word comes from
Possibly from waff (“(dialectal) to bark, woof”) (imitative of a dog’s yelp) + -le (diminutive or frequentative suffix).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.