winnow.
To subject (granular material, especially food grain) to a current of air separating heavier and lighter components, as grain from chaff.
Meaning & usage
To subject (granular material, especially food grain) to a current of air separating heavier and lighter components, as grain from chaff.
To separate, sift, analyse, or test by separating items having different values.
They winnowed the field to twelve.
They winnowed the winners from the losers.
To blow upon or toss about by blowing; to set in motion as with a fan or wings.
To move about with a flapping motion, as of wings; to flutter.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English wyndwen, from Old English windwian (“to winnow, fan, ventilate”), from Proto-West Germanic *windwōn, from Proto-Germanic *windwōną, *winþijaną (“to throw about, winnow”), from Proto-Indo-European *wē- (“to winnow, thresh”). Cognate with West Frisian wynje (“to winnow”), dialectal Dutch winden, winnen (“to winnow”), Middle High German winden (“to winnow”), Icelandic vinsa (“to pick out, weed”), Latin vannus (“a winnowing basket”). See fan, van.
That which winnows or which is used in winnowing; a contrivance for fanning or winnowing grain.
The act of winnowing
Where this word comes from
From Middle English wyndwen, from Old English windwian (“to winnow, fan, ventilate”), from Proto-West Germanic *windwōn, from Proto-Germanic *windwōną, *winþijaną (“to throw about, winnow”), from Proto-Indo-European *wē- (“to winnow, thresh”). Cognate with West Frisian wynje (“to winnow”), dialectal Dutch winden, winnen (“to winnow”), Middle High German winden (“to winnow”), Icelandic vinsa (“to pick out, weed”), Latin vannus (“a winnowing basket”). See fan, van.
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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.