Word of the Day – Wankle

Wankle (adj) (rare) (Br/dialect)

wan-kl

Unsteady, insecure, precarious; unstable, wobbly; changeable, unsettled; inconstant, fickle, not to be relied on.

Old English; earliest use found in King Alfred (c848–899), king of the West Saxons and of the Anglo-Saxons. Cognate with Old Dutch wankil- (in wankilhēt inconstancy, Middle Dutch wankel, Dutch wankel), Old Saxon wankul (Middle Low German wankel; German regional (Low German) wankel), Old High German wankal, wancal (Middle High German wankel, German wankel- in Wankelmut inconstancy) from the same Germanic base as Old English wancian (in an isolated attestation), Old Saxon wankon, Old High German wankōn (Middle High German wanken, German wanken), all in the sense ‘to waver, to totter’, and probably also Old Icelandic vakka to stray, to hover about, apparently from the same Germanic base as (with different ablaut grade) wink.

Example sentences

“Everyone knew he was a wankle character, not to be relied on.”