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Added 8 October 2026

cudgel

/ˈkʌd͡ʒəl/ noun

In Latin: caia, fūstis, clāva Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about cudgel at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A short heavy club with a rounded head used as a weapon.
The guard hefted his cudgel menacingly and looked at the inmates.
Anything that can be used as a threat to force one's will on another.

verb

To strike with a cudgel.
The officer was violently cudgeled down in the midst of the rioters.
To exercise (one's wits or brains) in an effort to force a memory or solution; to rack (one's mind).

Origin

From Middle English kuggel, from Old English cyċġel (“a large stick, cudgel”), from Proto-West Germanic *kuggil, from Proto-Germanic *kuggilaz (“a knobbed instrument”), derivative of Proto-Germanic *kuggǭ (“cog, swelling”), from Proto-Indo-European *gewgʰ- (“swelling, bow”), from Proto-Indo-European *gew- (“to bow, bend, arch, curve”), equivalent to cog + -el (diminutive suffix). Cognate with Middle Dutch coghele (“a stick with a rounded end”).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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