Origin and history of whisk

early 15c., "anything that whisks or sweeps" (a fan, fly-swatter, etc.), agent noun from whisk (v.).

As "hair of a man's face" (usually plural), c. 1600, originally a playful extension of this. In reference to animal lip hair, it is recorded from 1670s. Figuratively of a very small difference or space, by 1913. Related: Whiskered; whiskers.

card game for four, 1660s, alteration of whisk, name of a kind of card game, alluded to as early as 1520s, perhaps so called from the notion of "whisking" up cards after each trick, and thus from whisk (v.).

It was then perhaps altered by influence of whist, also whish, the exclamation to suggest silence to one nearby (which is attested by late 14c.), but in most sources this is not considered the direct source of the card-game name, nor is "silence" considered the etymological sense of it. "The rule of silence, so far as it exists, is appar[ently] founded, however, in part on the false etymology." [Century Dictionary]

consonant cluster, a respelling of Old English hw-, Northumbrian hu- attested from 11c., widespread in some places by 14c., but not the common form overall until after c. 1400. The cluster represents PIE *kw-; in German reduced to simple w-, in Scandinavian as hv-, kv-, or v-.

It also was added unetymologically to some borrowed words (whisk, whiskey) and some native words formerly spelled with simple w- or h- (whole, whore). In the 15c. flowering of its use it also threatened to change the spelling of hot, home and many more.

Proper pronunciation in modern educated English speech has been much in dispute. In Middle English also vh-, qv-, qwh-, hu-; in northern English 16c.-18c., sometimes altered to quh- (see Q) which perhaps indicated a guttural enunciation, as also perhaps in earlier Northumbrian use of ch- in the pronouns.