wipe
English · Français · Thesaurus
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
wipe¹
- /waɪp/
Rhymes with -aɪp
Where it comes from
From Middle English wipen, from Old English wīpian (“to wipe, rub, cleanse”), from Proto-West Germanic *wīpōn (“to wipe”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyp- (“to twist, wind around”). Cognate with German wippen (“to bob”), Swedish veva (“to turn, wind, crank”), Gothic 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐍀𐌰𐌽 (weipan, “to wreathe, crown”), Old English swīfan (“to revolve, sweep, wend, intervene”), Sanskrit वेपते (vépate, “to tremble”). More at swivel, swift.
verb wipes · wiping · wiped
- To move an object over, maintaining contact, with the intention of removing some substance from the surface. (Compare rub.) Melissa wiped her glasses with her shirt.
- To smear (a substance) with this kind of motion. You've wiped grease all over your shirt.
- To remove by rubbing; to rub off; to obliterate; usually followed by away, off, or out. Some natural tears they dropped, but wiped them soon.
- To clean (the anus, buttocks and/or genitals) after defecation or urination. I had nothing to wipe my bum with.
- To erase. I accidentally wiped my hard drive.
- To make (a joint, as between pieces of lead pipe), by surrounding the junction with a mass of solder, applied in a plastic condition by means of a rag with which the solder is shaped by rubbing.
- To remove an expression from one's face. You should wipe that smirk off your face before the boss comes in.
- To deperm (a ship).
- To perform a transition in which one scene or slide is replaced with another over time along a horizontal axis, as if one scene or slide is a layer being slid off the other. Steve-O tells the camera, “Don’t worry; the next skit’s gonna be amazing”; he then pretends to grab the side of the screen, which “wipes” to the next shot.
- To hit or strike.
- To cheat; to defraud; to trick; usually followed by out. The English, which they thinke lye still in wayte to wipe them out of theyr landes.
noun wipes
- The act of wiping something. multiple wipes of a computer's hard disk
- A soft piece of cloth or cloth-like material used for wiping. When on a plane or train, don't take anything into the bathroom except baby, a changing pad, a diaper, a travel packet of wipes, and a bottle of hand sanitizer. Always use a wipe on the area before you put your baby down.
- A handkerchief. "Now, my kiveys, shy up your castors, tie your bird's-eye wipes to the stakes, and go to work."
-
A kind of film transition where one shot replaces another by travelling from one side of the frame to another or with a special shape.
Similar: wipeoff
- A sarcastic remark; a reproof, a jibe. I could not help giving Metcalfe a wipe for his lamentations, observing I should have thought he had enough to attend to at home.
- A blow or swipe; the act of striking somebody or something. He rode close up to a French officer, and so much in advance of his men that the Frenchman thought he was going to surrender, and dropped his sword, when Penrice gave him a wipe over his head.
wipe²
- /waɪp/
Rhymes with -aɪp
Where it comes from
Compare Swedish vipa, Danish vibe (“lapwing”).
noun wipes
- A lapwing, especially a northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus).
wipe³
- /waɪp/
Rhymes with -aɪp
Where it comes from
From wipe out (verb) and wipeout (noun) by shortening.
verb wipes · wiping · wiped
- To have all members of a party die in a single campaign, event, or battle; to be wiped out. If you try to fight that boss underprepared, you're definitely gonna wipe.
noun wipes
-
An instance of all members of a party dying in a single campaign, event, or battle; a wipeout.
Similar: TPK
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: rub, obliterate, pass over, efface, scavenging, scavenge, cleanse, sweep, swab, wash, blot, brush, towel, comb, shine, blur
Translations
Every language
verb to rub in order to remove surface substance
| Español | enjugar, trapear, entrapar, enjutar, esponjar, guaipear |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 닦다 dakda |
| 日本語 | 拭く fuku |
| 中文 | 擦 cā, 擦拭 cāshì, 抹 mǒ |
| हिन्दी | मिटाना miṭānā, पोंछना põchnā |
| Kiswahili | pangusa, futa |
| Português | esfregar, enxugar, limpar |
| Français | essuyer |
| Deutsch | wischen |
| Italiano | asciugare, pulire |
| Ελληνικά | σκουπίζω skoupízo |
| Română | șterge |
| Русский | вытира́ть vytirátʹ, вы́тереть výteretʹ, стира́ть stirátʹ, стере́ть sterétʹ |
| Tiếng Việt | lau, chùi, lau sạch, chùi sạch |
| العربية | مَسَحَ masaḥa |
| עברית | נִגֵּב nigév |
verb to smear by rubbing
| Deutsch | schmieren |
|---|
verb clean the buttocks and anus after defecation
| Deutsch | wischen |
|---|
Talk about this word "wipe." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/wipe. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. wipe. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/wipe "wipe." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/wipe.Cite this
@misc{wipe_2026,
title = {wipe},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/wipe},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
