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Webster 1913 Edition

Wankle

Wan′kle

,
Adj.
[AS.
wancol
.]
Not to be depended on; weak; unstable.
[Prov. Eng.]
Grose.

Definition 2024

wankle

wankle

English

Adjective

wankle ‎(comparative more wankle, superlative most wankle)

  1. (Britain dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Weak; unstable; unreliable; not to be depended on.

Scots

Etymology

From Middle English wankel, wankill, from Old English wancol ‎(“unsteady, skaky”). More at wonky.

Adjective

wankle ‎(comparative mair wankle, superlative maist wankle)

  1. weak
  2. unsteady
    Your wankle leggs canno support ye / Sae sit ye down, till I exhort ye. ― G. Stuart.

Etymology

From Middle English wankel, from Old English wancol ‎(“unstable, unsteady, tottering, vacillating, weak”), from Proto-Germanic *wankulaz ‎(“unsteady, wavering”), from Proto-Indo-European *wank-, *wak-, *wek-, *weg- ‎(“to be unsteady; crooked”). Cognate with Dutch wankel ‎(“shaky, unstable”), Middle High German wankel ‎(“unsteady”), German wanken ‎(“to waver, totter”). See also wonky.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈwæŋkəl/
  • (US, also) IPA(key): /ˈweɪŋkəl/
  • Rhymes: -æŋkəl

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