wheedle

Pronunciation: /ˈʍiː.dəl/

The English word “wheedle” has 3 meanings listed here.

verb

To cajole or attempt to persuade by flattery.
To obtain by flattery, guile, or trickery.

noun

A coaxing person.

Etymology

Uncertain. Perhaps continuing Middle English wedlen (“to beg, ask for alms”), from Old English wǣdlian (“to be poor, be needy, be in want, beg”), from Proto-Germanic *wēþlōną (“to be in need”). Alternatively , borrowed from German wedeln (“to wag one's tail”), from Middle High German wedelen, a byform of Middle High German wadelen (“to wander, waver, wave, whip, stroke, flutter”), from Old High…

Keep exploring: in the interactive dictionary every word of a definition is a link. Open “wheedle” there

More English words

About this dictionary

The English dictionary on Glottosphere has 650,529 entries with a page. Browse the English dictionary.

Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.