What does pickaxe mean?
A pickaxe is a sturdy hand tool consisting of a metal head mounted on a long wooden handle. Its pointed or curved working end is designed to strike and break rock, loosen hard soil, or cut into surfaces such as concrete, brick, or pavement. Pickaxes are most strongly associated with mining, quarrying, and excavating, although modern versions are also used in landscaping and construction. The word can refer to the entire tool or, by metonymy, to the action it performs: a worker “uses a pickaxe,” and “the pickaxe broke through the stone.” Historically, pickaxes were indispensable wherever people had to penetrate resistant ground without mechanized equipment. Although modern power tools have replaced them in many large-scale operations, a pickaxe remains recognizable for its simple design and forceful, labor-intensive use.
nounA heavy tool with a curved or pointed metal head attached to a wooden handle, used for breaking rock, digging hard ground, and mining.
- A tool used to break rock, dig into hard ground, or extract minerals from the earth.
"The miner swung the pickaxe against the seam until the coal came free."
"She used a pickaxe to break through the compacted soil."
"The sound of pickaxes echoed through the quarry."
"An old pickaxe hung beside the entrance to the mine."
The standard plural adds "-es."
"The workers carried pickaxes and shovels into the mine."
Before hydraulic drills and explosives, a pickaxe did the stubborn work of splitting rock one blow at a time.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does pickaxe come from?
The compound pickaxe developed in late Middle English from "pick," meaning a pointed mining or digging tool, and "axe," meaning a cutting implement. Earlier forms of the word referred more simply to the pointed tool. The English "pick" belongs to a wider Germanic and Indo-European word family represented in English through forms such as "pique" and "picket." The separate spelling "pickax" also reflects the compound's historical construction.
How pickaxe is actually used
The spelling "pickax" is also accepted. The term is commonly associated with mining and quarrying but can refer to the tool used for digging or breaking up hard ground in any setting.
Easily confused with pickaxe
A pickaxe has a pointed or narrow end for breaking hard ground, whereas a mattock has a broader blade set at an angle for digging and loosening soil.