anvil means A heavy iron block used in the blacksmithing trade as a surface upon which metal can be struck and shaped.
anvil is pronounced /ˈæn.vəl/.
Why “anvil” is a great word
A heavy iron block with a flat top and often a pointed end, used by a blacksmith as the unyielding surface upon which to hammer and shape hot metal. From Middle English *anfilt*, *anvelt*, from late Old English *anfilt*, *anfilte*, from Proto-West Germanic *anafalt*, a compound of *ana ("on") and *falt ("beaten"), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pelh₂- ("to stir, move, beat"). Unlike "stithy," which names the workshop itself, or "incus," a borrowed anatomical metaphor, "anvil" is the word for the tool in its pure, massive utility. It is the solid clang beneath the hammer’s fall, the shower of orange sparks from a struck horseshoe, and the faint smell of scorched horn in a farrier's shop; it is the patient acceptance of violence, the immutable thing that gives form to all that is malleable.
Etymology
From Middle English anfilt, anvelt, anfelt, from late Old English anfilt, anfilte, anfealt, from earlier onfilti (“anvil”), from Proto-West Germanic *anafalt (compare Middle Dutch anvilte, Low German Anfilts, Anefilt, Old High German anafalz), compound of *ana (“on”) + *falt (“beaten”) (compare German falzen (“to groove, fold, welt”), Swedish dialectal filta (“to beat”)), from Proto-Indo-European *pelh₂-t- (“shaken, beaten”) (compare Middle Irish lethar (“leather”), Latin pellō (“to beat, strike”), Ancient Greek πάλλω (pállō, “to toss, brandish”)), enlargement of Proto-Indo-European *pelh₂- (“to stir, move”). More at felon.
noun
- A heavy iron block used in the blacksmithing trade as a surface upon which metal can be struck and shaped.e.g.“My heart is as an anvil unto sorrow,
Which beats upon it like the Cyclops’ hammers […]”
- The incus bone in the middle ear.
- A stone or other hard surface used by a bird for breaking the shells of snails.
- The non-moving surface of a micrometer against which the item to be measured is placed.
- A horizontal-topped mass of cloud, shaped like a blacksmith's anvil, that forms before a thunderstorm.
verb
- To fashion on, or as if on, an anvil.e.g.“I Have anvil’d out this Iron Age,
Which I commit, not to your patronage,
But skill and Art […]”
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- smithing 85% match — The work of a smith; the forging of metal. vs anvil →
- smithcraft 81% match — The art or occupation of a smith, especially a metalsmith. vs anvil →
- planish 80% match — To repeatedly hammer (a sheet of metal) so as to shape and smooth it or create a decorative indented finish. vs anvil →
- quern 79% match — A mill for grinding corn, especially a handmill made of two circular stones. vs anvil →
- heavy 79% match — Having great weight. vs anvil →
- artificer 79% match — Someone who is skilled in their trade; an artisan. vs anvil →
- flintknapping 78% match — The creation of tools by knapping flint. vs anvil →
- burnish 78% match — To make (something, such as a surface) bright, shiny, and smooth by, or (by extension) as if by, rubbing; to polish, to shine. vs anvil →