Meaning

noun weapon consisting of a fighting ax; used by North American Indians

noun a small ax with a short handle used with one hand (usually to chop wood)

originFrom Middle English hachet, a borrowing from Old French hachete, diminutive of hache (“axe”), from Vulgar Latin *happia, from Frankish *happjā, from Proto-Germanic *hapjǭ, *habjǭ (“knife”), from Proto-Indo-European *kop- (“to strike, to beat”). Cognate with Old High German happa, heppa, habba (“reaper, sickle”), German Hippe (“billhook”), Dutch heep, hiep (“billhook”), and Ancient Greek κοπίς…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0