cut

The word “cut” means to divide or open something using a sharp tool such as a knife or scissors. In plain terms, to slice, divide, reduce, or remove — an extremely common verb with many specific uses (film editing, budgets, meat, muscle tone, etc.).

“Cut” is pronounced kuht (/kʌt/ in IPA).

Here is “cut” used in a sentence: “She cut the cake into eight equal slices.”

Words with a similar meaning to “cut” include carve, chive, incide, incise, lacerate and race.

Depending on how it is used, “cut” can be a verb, a noun and an adjective.

The word “cut” comes from Middle English. From Middle English cutten, likely of North Germanic origin, related to Old Norse words for cutting or carving with a knife.

“Cut” is a very common word in modern English, usually learned at around the A1 level.

“Cut” has 6 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: to divide or open something using a sharp tool such as a knife or scissors.

Cutting is the general act of dividing or opening something with a sharp edge. Slicing is a specific kind of cutting: making thin, usually flat, even pieces, as with bread or vegetables. Every slice is a cut, but not every cut produces a neat slice.

'Cut' is an irregular verb that does not change form: the present, past, and past participle are all 'cut.' You say 'I cut the rope today' and 'I cut the rope yesterday,' never 'cutted.' Only the continuous form, 'cutting,' adds letters to the base word.

Beyond dividing something with a blade, 'cut' can mean to reduce, as in cutting prices or costs; to edit or remove, as in cutting a scene from a film; or to stop, as in 'cut the engine.' Context usually makes the intended sense clear.

In its core sense it describes using a sharp tool: 'She cut the paper with scissors,' or 'He cut a slice of cake with a knife.' The object being divided follows the verb, and the tool used is often named afterwards with the word 'with.'