cudgel

Pronunciation: /ˈkʌd͡ʒəl/

The English word “cudgel” has 4 meanings listed here.

noun

A short heavy club with a rounded head used as a weapon.
Anything that can be used as a threat to force one's will on another.

verb

To strike with a cudgel.
To exercise (one's wits or brains) in an effort to force a memory or solution; to rack (one's mind).

Etymology

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…

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