whisk.
A quick, light sweeping motion.
Meaning & usage
A quick, light sweeping motion.
With a quick whisk, she swept the cat from the pantry with her broom.
A kitchen utensil, now usually made from stiff wire loops fixed to a handle (and formerly of twigs), used for whipping (or a mechanical device with the same function).
He used a whisk to whip up a light and airy souffle.
A bunch of twigs, hair, etc., used as a brush.
Peter dipped the whisk in lather and applied it to his face, so he could start shaving.
A small handheld broom with a small (or no) handle.
I used a whisk to sweep the counter, then a push-broom for the floor.
A plane used by coopers for evening chines.
A kind of cape, forming part of a woman's dress.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English whisk, borrowed from Old Norse visk, from Proto-Germanic *wiskaz, *wiskō (“bundle of hay, wisp”), from Proto-Indo-European *weys-. Cognates Cognate with Danish visk, Dutch wis, German Wisch, Latin virga (“rod, switch”), viscus (“entrails”), Lithuanian vizgéti (“to tremble”), Czech věchet (“wisp of straw”), Sanskrit वेष्क (veṣka, “noose”). Compare also Old English wiscian (“to plait”), granwisc (“awn”). The unetymological wh- is probably expressive of the sound; compare the same development in whip and onomatopoeias such as whack and whoosh.
To move something with quick light sweeping motions.
Vernon whisked the sawdust from his workbench.
In cooking, to whip e.g. eggs or cream.
The chef prepared to whisk the egg whites for the angel's food cake.
To move something rapidly and with no warning.
The governess whisked the children from the room before they could see their presents.
To move lightly and nimbly.
The children whisked down the road to the fair, laughing and chattering as they went.
To move whiskers.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English whisk, borrowed from Old Norse visk, from Proto-Germanic *wiskaz, *wiskō (“bundle of hay, wisp”), from Proto-Indo-European *weys-. Cognates Cognate with Danish visk, Dutch wis, German Wisch, Latin virga (“rod, switch”), viscus (“entrails”), Lithuanian vizgéti (“to tremble”), Czech věchet (“wisp of straw”), Sanskrit वेष्क (veṣka, “noose”). Compare also Old English wiscian (“to plait”), granwisc (“awn”). The unetymological wh- is probably expressive of the sound; compare the same development in whip and onomatopoeias such as whack and whoosh.
The card game whist.
Where this word comes from
So called from the rapid action of sweeping the cards off the table after a trick has been won.
Try it on your idea.
whisk has 5 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.
These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.
Explore the name generatorA word with a source.
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.