cincel

Spanish

Two cold chisels

Etymology

Likely from Old French cisel, from cisoir (with a change in suffix), from Late Latin cīsōrium (“cutting instrument”), ultimately from Latin caedere (“cut”). The /n/ seems to have been taken from pincel (“paintbrush”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /θinˈθel/ [θĩn̟ˈθel] (Equatorial Guinea, Spain)
• IPA^(key): /sinˈsel/ [sĩnˈsel] (Latin America, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -el
• Syllabification: cin‧cel

Noun

cincel m (plural cinceles)

1. chisel, cold chisel

Related terms

• cincelar

Further reading

• “cincel”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025
• “cincel” in Lexico, Oxford University Press.