Word.ws English Dictionary

winnow

UK/ˈwɪnəʊ//ˈwɪnoʊ/

winnow verb: to subject (granular material, especially food grain) to a current of air separating heavier and lighter components, as grain from chaff.

Verb

winnow (third-person singular simple present winnows, present participle winnowing, simple past and past participle winnowed)

  1. (transitive, literal) To subject (granular material, especially food grain) to a current of air separating heavier and lighter components, as grain from chaff.
    • By Jacob Behel, of Mifflintown, Pa.,—Improvement in winnowing Machines, Patented August 21, 1847.1847, editorial staff, “Winnowing Machines”, in Scientific American, series 1, Volume 3, Issue 9, page 68
    • [W]ind began to winnow the river delta's dried sediments.1998 January 3, Sid Perkins, “Thin Skin”, in Science News, volume 165, number 1, page 11
    Synonyms:
    wind
  2. (figuratively, transitive) To separate, sift, analyse, or test by separating items having different values.
    • They winnowed the field to twelve.
    • They winnowed the winners from the losers.
    Synonyms:
    comb out
  3. (literary, transitive) To blow upon or toss about by blowing; to set in motion as with a fan or wings.
    • The light snow lay on the narrow and winding path before them, pure as if just fresh winnowed by the wind.1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVIII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 206
    • Gulls average much larger than terns, with stouter build; the feet are larger and more ambulatorial, the wings are shorter and not so thin; the birds winnow the air in a steady course unlike the buoyant dashing flight of their relatives.1872, Elliott Coues, Key to North American Birds
  4. (dated, intransitive, literary) To move about with a flapping motion, as of wings; to flutter.

Noun

winnow (plural winnows)

  1. That which winnows or which is used in winnowing; a contrivance for fanning or winnowing grain.
  2. The act of winnowing

winnow meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Telugu

winnow in Hindi

to winnow
बरसाना barsānā

winnow in Tamil

to separate the heavier and lighter with a current of air
புடை puṭai, தூற்று tūṟṟu, நேம்பு nēmpu
figuratively: to separate, sift, analyze, test
பிரி piri, பகு paku
something that winnows
முறம் muṟam

winnow in Urdu

علیحدہ کرنا, چھاننا, منتشر کرنا, پنکھا چلانا, پھونکنا

winnow in Telugu

to separate the heavier and lighter with a current of air
చెరుగు cerugu
More languagesFewer languages
winnow in Malayalam
പതിരുകൊഴിക്കുക, അരിച്ചുപെറുക്കുക
winnow in Kannada
ತೆಂಟು, ತೆವಟು, ತೂರ್, ತೂರು
winnow in Punjabi
ਲਾਉਣਾ lāuṇā
winnow in Sanskrit
विनक्ति vinákti, स्फुट् sphuṭ
winnow in Arabic
ذَرَّى ḏarrā, نَسَفَ nasafa, ذَرَّايَة ḏarrāya, مِذْرَاة miḏrāh
winnow in Malay
tampi
winnow in Persian
غربال کردن
winnow in Thai
ฝัด fàt
winnow in Vietnamese
sàng

Synonyms of winnow

Forms of winnow

Verb
third-person singular presentwinnows
present participlewinnowing
past participlewinnowed
pastwinnowed
Noun
pluralwinnows

Origin of winnow

From Middle English wyndwen, from Old English windwian (“to winnow, fan, ventilate”), from Proto-West Germanic *windwōn, from Proto-Germanic *windwōną, *winþijaną (“to throw about, winnow”), from Proto-Indo-European *wē- (“to winnow, thresh”). Cognate with West Frisian wynje (“to winnow”), dialectal Dutch winden, winnen (“to winnow”), Middle High German winden (“to winnow”), Icelandic vinsa (“to pick out, weed”), Latin vannus (“a winnowing basket”). See fan, van.

Words formed from winnow

Phrases with winnow

Words that rhyme with winnow

Questions about winnow

What does winnow mean?
Winnow means to subject (granular material, especially food grain) to a current of air separating heavier and lighter components, as grain from chaff.
What is winnow in Hindi?
Winnow in Hindi is बरसाना (barsānā). See Winnow meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is winnow?
Winnow can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce winnow?
Winnow is pronounced /ˈwɪnoʊ/ (US).
What is the past tense of winnow?
The past tense of winnow is winnowed.

Words near winnow in the dictionary

  1. Winnipesaukee
  2. Winnisquam
  3. Winnister
  4. winnitude
  5. winnonish
  6. winnow
  7. winnow down
  8. winnow grain from chaff
  9. winnow sheet
  10. winnow sheets
  11. winnow the wheat from the chaff

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: winnow (page history and authors); बरसाना (Hindi) (page history and authors); winnow (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); winnow (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); winnow (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਲਾਉਣਾ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); विनक्ति (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-winnow.ogg.

Cite this entry: “winnow.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/winnow. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.