shaft
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shaft
- /ˈʃɑːft/ General South African, UK, Southern England
- /ˈʃɐːft/ Australia, New Zealand
- [ˈʃɐ̞ːft] Australia, New Zealand
- /ˈʃæft/ Canada, US
- /ˈʃaft/ Northern England, Scotland
Rhymes with -ɑːft, -æft
Where it comes from
From Middle English chafte, saft, scaft, schaft, schafte, scheft, shaffet, shaft, from Old English sċeaft, from Proto-West Germanic *skaft, from Proto-Germanic *skaftaz (“shaft”), from Proto-Indo-European *skeh₂p- (“club, rod, shaft, staff”).
Cognates
Cognate with Dutch schacht (“shaft”), German Schaft (“shaft”), Low German Schacht, Skacht (“shaft; cane, stick; beating”), Danish, Icelandic, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish skaft (“handle; stem; shaft”); also Latin scapus (“stalk, stem; shaft”), Greek σκήπτρο (skíptro, “sceptre”), Albanian shkop (“staff, stick”), Belarusian кап'ё (kapʺjó, “spear”), Bulgarian ко́пие (kópie, “spear”), Czech kopí (“spear”), Macedonian копје (kopje, “spear”), Polish kopia (“spear”), Russian копьё (kopʹjó, “spear”), Serbo-Croatian ко̏пље, kȍplje (“spear”), Slovak kopija (“spear”), Slovene kopje (“javelin”).
In Early Modern English, shaft referred to the entire body of a long weapon, such that an arrow's “shaft” was composed of its tip, stale, and fletching. Over time, the word came to be used in place of the former stale and lost its original meaning.
noun shafts
- The entire body of a long weapon, such as an arrow. A shaft hath three principal parts, the stele, the feathers, and the head.
-
The long, narrow, central body of a spear, arrow, or javelin.
Her hand slipped off the javelin's shaft towards the spearpoint and that's why her score was lowered.
Similar: stale
- Anything cast or thrown as a spear or javelin. […]and the Thunder, / Wing'd with red Lightning and impetuous rage, / Perhaps hath ſpent his ſhafts […]
-
One of the poles between which a draught animal is harnessed to a vehicle.
While Kitto chatted to William, Jessamy looked with interest at the dog cart. It had a pair of high wooden wheels with two seats back to back above. Between the shafts the bay mare tossed her head and fidgeted on the cobbles.
Similar: pole, carriage pole
- A rotating machine element used to transmit power; a driveshaft Turbines have been around for a long time—windmills and water wheels are early examples. The name comes from the Latin turbo, meaning vortex, and thus the defining property of a turbine is that a fluid or gas turns the blades of a rotor, which is attached to a shaft that can perform useful work.
- The long narrow body of a lacrosse stick. Sarah, if you wear gloves your hands might not slip on your shaft and you can up your game, girl!
- A beam or ray of light. Isn't that shaft of light from that opening in the cave beautiful?
-
The main axis of a feather.
I had no idea that they removed the feathers' shafts to make the pillows softer!
Similar: rachis
-
A vertical or inclined passage sunk into the earth as part of a mine.
Your grandfather used to work with a crane hauling ore out of the gold mine's shafts.
Similar: mineshaft
-
A vertical passage housing a lift or elevator.
Darn it, my keys fell through the gap and into the elevator shaft.
Similar: liftshaft
-
A ventilation or heating conduit.
Our parrot flew into the air duct and got stuck in the shaft.
Similar: airduct
- Any column or pillar, particularly the body of a column between its capital and pedestal. Spirit, that made those heroes dare / To die, or leave their children free / Bid Time and Nature gently spare / The shaft we raise to thee.
- The main cylindrical part of the penis. The female labia minora is homologous to the penis shaft skin of males.
- The chamber of a blast furnace.
- A relatively small area of precipitation that an onlook can discern from the dry surrounding area.
-
A component of a loom which holds the heddles and is raised by treadles to create the shed.
Eight shafts are required to weave this structure. If you have four shafts, you may weave something similar by threading alternate blocks to plain weave and 2/2 basket.
Similar: harness
- An act of sexual intercourse. I sat on the sofa, got up, changed channels and doubted there'd be time to have a quick shaft and feign an orgasm today.
verb shafts · shafting · shafted
-
To fuck over; to cause harm to, especially through deceit or treachery.
Your boss really shafted you by stealing your idea like that.
Similar: abuse, beglammer, counterfeit, deceive, catch, trap into, dissemble, dissimulate, feign, jiff, lead astray, overreach
- To equip with a shaft.
-
To fuck; to have sexual intercourse with.
Turns out my roommate was shafting my girlfriend.
Similar: Formal terms, bed, coit, coitize, dight, enjoy, feague, go in unto, go to bed with, have, know, lie by
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: spear, lance, barb, screw, pecker, tool, prick, beam, dig, jockey, slam, ray, shot, dick, cheat, chouse
Translations
Every language
noun long narrow body of spear or arrow
| Español | asta, astil |
|---|---|
| 中文 | 杆 gān |
| Português | haste, cabo |
| Français | hampe |
| Deutsch | Schaft |
| Italiano | lancia |
| Ελληνικά | στέλεχος stélechos |
| Русский | дре́вко drévko |
noun any long, thin object
| Español | vara, barra, palier, eje, caña |
|---|---|
| Português | haste, cabo |
| Deutsch | Stange |
| Italiano | asta, prolunga |
| Ελληνικά | στειλιάρι steiliári, στύλος stýlos |
| Русский | сте́ржень stérženʹ, ось osʹ |
noun lacrosse: long narrow body of the stick
| Español | mango |
|---|---|
| Português | cabo |
| Русский | черено́к čerenók, рукоя́тка rukojátka |
noun beam or ray of light
| Español | haz, rayo |
|---|---|
| Português | raio |
| Deutsch | Strahl |
| Italiano | raggio |
| Ελληνικά | αχτίδα achtída, ακτίνα aktína |
| Русский | луч luč |
noun main axis of a feather
| Español | raquis, astil |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 羽軸 |
| 中文 | 羽軸 /羽轴, 羽幹 /羽干 |
| Português | raque |
| Français | rachis |
| Deutsch | Federkiel, Kiel |
| Italiano | rachide |
| Ελληνικά | καλάμι kalámi |
| Русский | сте́ржень stérženʹ |
| עברית | קֻלְמוֹס qulmús, קָנֶה qané |
noun long passage sunk into the earth
| Español | pozo |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 立て坑 tatekō, 縦坑 tatekō |
| Português | poço, chaminé |
| Deutsch | Schacht |
| Italiano | pozzo, condotto |
| Ελληνικά | πηγάδι pigádi, στοά stoá, φρέαρ fréar, φρεάτιο freátio |
| Română | puț, puțuri |
| Русский | ша́хта šáxta |
| עברית | פִּיר pir |
noun vertical passage housing a lift
| Español | hueco, pozo |
|---|---|
| Português | poço |
| Français | cage |
| Deutsch | Schacht |
| Italiano | tromba, pozzo |
| Ελληνικά | φρέαρ fréar, φρεάτιο freátio |
| Русский | ша́хта šáxta |
| עברית | פִּיר pir |
noun ventilation or heating conduit
| Español | ducto |
|---|---|
| Português | duto |
| Deutsch | Schacht |
| Italiano | condotta, pozzo, condotto |
| Ελληνικά | αεραγωγός aeragogós |
| Русский | ша́хта šáxta |
noun the shaft of the penis
| Español | tronco |
|---|---|
| Português | vara |
| Deutsch | Schaft |
| Ελληνικά | βάλανος válanos |
| Русский | ствол stvol |
verb slang: to engage in a malicious act
| Français | entuber |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | hereinlegen, übervorteilen, bemogeln, schädigen, schikanieren. slang: ficken, arschen |
| Ελληνικά | ρίχνω ríchno, γδέρνω gdérno |
Talk about this word "shaft." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/shaft. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. shaft. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/shaft "shaft." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/shaft.Cite this
@misc{shaft_2026,
title = {shaft},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/shaft},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
