"W" Word Origins

Westmore

Origin

Heterographic variant of Westmoor.

Westmoreland

Origin

Heterographic variant of Westmorland.

westmorland

Origin

From Old English folk name Westmōringas (“the people west of the moors”) + land. The civil parish in New Brunswick is named analogously to Westmorland County.

Weston

Old English

From Old English west (“west”) + tūn (“enclosure; settlement, town”).

Westport

Origin

From west + port. From west or the surname West and port.

westside

Origin

A straightforward compound of west and side.

westward

Old English

From Old English westweard, combining west with -weard, the ancestor of the modern suffix "-ward" (as in "homeward" or "onward").

westwards

Origin

From west + -wards.

Westwood

Origin

From west + wood.

wet

Old English

From Old English wǣt, related to the word "water" itself — both trace back to an ancient root simply meaning "water" or "wet."

wetback

Origin · 1954

Coined in the 1920s from the idea of migrants wading or swimming across the Rio Grande, and later used in the name of a 1954 US government deportation campaign.

wetland

Origin

From wet + land. Cognate with West Frisian wetlân.

wetness

Origin

From Middle English wetnes, wetnesse, from Old English wǣtnes (“moisture, wetness”). By surface analysis, wet + -ness.

Wexler

German

Variant of Wechsler, a surname from German Wechsler (“money changer”). Comparatively often found among Jews, but not specifically Jewish.

wey

Origin

From Middle English weie, waie, weihe, wæȝe, from Old English wǣġ (“a weight; a tool for weighing, balance, scale”), from Proto-West Germanic *wāgu, from Proto-Germanic *wēgō (“scales; weight”), from Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- (“to move, bring, transport”). Cognate with German Waage (“weight”), Icelandic vág (“a weight”).

whack

Origin

Origin uncertain, likely Scottish and probably imitative of the sound of a sharp blow — the source of the related word "thwack."

whacker

Origin

From whack + -er.

whackjob

Origin

From whack(y) + job(bie).

whaddayacallit

Origin

From what do you call it. Compare whatdoyoucallit.

whale

Old English

From Old English hwæl, part of an old Germanic word family for "whale" that stretches back to a root meaning something like "big fish."

Whalen

Origin

Variant of Whelan.

whaler

Origin

From whale plus the agent suffix -er.

wham

Origin

An imitative word, invented to mimic the sound of a sudden, forceful collision.

whammy

Origin

Built from wham plus the suffix -y, turning the sound of a hit into a noun for a jinx or blow of misfortune.

whang

Origin

Imitative. Compare wang.

whap

Origin

Onomatopoeic; variant of whop.

wharf

Old English

From Old English hwearf, originally meaning a heap or embankment, related to an old word for "turning" — likely describing the way goods were turned over at the dockside.

Wharton

Old English

Various possible origins: * The villages in Cheshire and Herefordshire are named after the River Weaver, whose name derives from Old English wæfre (“wavering, winding”), + Old English tūn (“enclosure; settlement, town”). * The village in Lincolnshire is named with either Old English weard (“ward, guard”) or waroþ (“shore, warth”) + tūn (“enclosure; settlement, town”). * The village in Cumbria is named with Old English hwearf (“wharf, embankment”) + tūn (“enclosure; settlement, town”).

what

Latin

From Old English hwæt, going back to a Proto-Indo-European root for "who/what" — the ancestor of similar words like German was and Latin quod.

what the heck

English

From heck, a euphemistic alteration of hell used to avoid swearing.

whatchamacallit

Origin · 1920

A run-together, shortened form of "what you may call it," first recorded in the early 1920s in the United States.

whatdoyoucallit

Origin

From the phrase "what do you call it".

whatever

Middle English

From Middle English, formed by joining "what" and "ever" for emphasis.

whatevs

Origin

A slangy shortening of whatever, with the informal "-s" ending added for a casual, chatty tone.

whatness

Origin

From what + -ness. First attested in 1611.

whatnot

Origin

Formed from "what" plus "not," originally used as a catch-all phrase for unnamed items.

whatsaname

Origin

Univerbation and contraction of what is the name.

WhatsApp

Origin

A blend of the phrase "what's up" and the word "app," registered as a trademark for the messaging service.

whatsis

Origin

From what's this or similar.

whatsit

Origin

A run-together form of the phrase "what is it," used as a stand-in for an unnamed object.

whatsitsname

Origin

From what's + its + name.

whatsoever

Middle English

From Middle English, built from "what" plus "so" plus "ever" to form an intensified version of "whatever."

wheal

Old English

From Middle English whele ("boil"), from Old English, related to an old word meaning "to fester or ulcerate."

wheat

Old English

From Old English hwǣte, related to an old Germanic word for "white" — likely because the ripe grain looks pale next to green crops.

Wheaties

Origin

A trademarked name built from "wheat" plus a diminutive "-ie" and plural "-s," evoking small, wheat-based flakes.

Wheaton

Origin · 2009

As a slang unit ("a wheaton"), it was coined in 2009 by cartoonist John Kovalic, named after actor Wil Wheaton, meaning about 500,000 social-media followers.

wheedle

Origin

Uncertain. Perhaps continuing Middle English wedlen (“to beg, ask for alms”), from Old English wǣdlian (“to be poor, be needy, be in want, beg”), from Proto-Germanic *wēþlōną (“to be in need”). Alternatively , borrowed from German wedeln (“to wag one's tail”), from Middle High German wedelen, a byform of Middle High German wadelen (“to wander, waver, wave, whip, stroke, flutter”), from Old High German wādalōn (“to wander, roam, rove”). In this case, it may be a doublet of waddle, or an independently formed etymological equivalent. The ⟨wh⟩ spelling (reflecting pronunciations with /ʍ/) is apparently unetymological.

wheel

Old English

From Old English hwēol, from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to turn" — repeated to describe something that "turns and turns."