"W" Word Origins

From Middle English whelbarwe, a combination of "wheel" and an old word for a hand-carried frame (related to "barrow").

A straightforward combination of "wheel" and "chair," describing exactly what it is.

From Middle English whelere, formed from "wheel" plus the agent suffix "-er."

From "wheel" plus "house" — originally the housing around a ship's steering wheel; the figurative sense (baseball, then general use) comes from the idea of a batter's favorite pitch zone.

Formed from "wheel" plus the informal "-ie" ending, common in casual nicknames for actions and objects.

From Middle English whelwryghte; equivalent to wheel + wright.

From Middle English whesen, possibly from an Old Norse word meaning "to hiss," tracing back to a root meaning "to pant."

Reduced Anglicized form of Irish Ó Faoláin (“descendant of Faolán”), a hypocoristic form of faol (“wolf”). Doublet of Phelan.

From Middle English whelmen (“to turn over, capsize; to invert, turn upside down”), perhaps from Old English *hwealmnian, a variant of *hwealfnian, from hwealf (“arched, concave, vaulted; an arched or vaulted ceiling”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwalb, from Proto-Germanic *hwalbą (“arch, vault”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷelp- (“to curve”). Cognates The English word is cognate with Dutch welven (“to arch”), Old Saxon bihwelvian (“to cover, hide”), German wölben (“to bend, curve, arch”), Icelandic hvelfa (“to overturn”), German Walm (“a vaulted roof”), Icelandic hvolf (“vaulted ceiling”), Ancient Greek κόλπος (kólpos, “bosom, hollow, gulf”). The noun is derived from the verb.

From Old English hwelp, a Germanic word for the young of an animal, related to Dutch welp and German Welpe.

From Old English hwonne, from a Proto-Germanic root meaning "at what time" — related to "who" and "what."

From Old English hwanon, related to "when," with an old adverbial ending added.

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

Shortening of whenever

From Old English hwǣr, literally "at what place," from a Proto-Indo-European interrogative root shared with "who" and "what."

From Middle English wheraboutes, built from "whereabout" plus the adverbial "-s" ending.

From "where" plus "as," first used in the 14th century to mean roughly "where," later shifting to its contrastive sense.

From "where" plus "by."

From Middle English wherfore, built from "where-" (meaning "what") plus "for."

From Middle English wherin, formed from "where-" plus "in."

From Middle English wherof, formed from "where" plus "of."

From Middle English wherupon, built from "where-" plus "upon."

From "where" plus "ever," added for emphasis.

From "where-" plus "withal" (meaning "with that"); originally used only as an adverb, it came to be used as a noun for "means" around 1800.

From Old English hwettan, "to sharpen" or, figuratively, "to spur someone on" — the physical and mental senses have travelled together since Old English.

From Old English hwæther, originally meaning "which of the two" — a comparative form built on the same root as "who".

From Middle English queþer-so-ever, weder-so-ever, wheder so ever, wheder-so-ever. By surface analysis, whether + so + ever.

From Middle English whestone, whetston, whetesston, from Old English hwetstān, from Proto-West Germanic *hwattjastain (“whetstone”). Equivalent to whet (“to sharpen”) + stone.

From Old English hwæg, of West Germanic origin, related to Dutch wei — the word has referred to this milky by-product since before written English records.

From Old English hwelc, literally "of what kind" — built from the same root as "who" and "what".

Formed in Middle English from which plus ever, adding emphasis to the idea of an unrestricted choice.

The noun is possibly: * partly a variant of Middle English wef, weffe (“bad smell, stench, stink; exhalation; vapour; tendency of something to go bad (?)”) [and other forms], possibly a variant of either: ** waf, waif, waife (“odour, scent”), possibly from waven (“to move to and fro, sway, wave; to stray, wander; to move in a weaving manner; (figuratively) to hesitate, vacillate”), from Old English wafian (“to wave”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“to braid, weave”); or ** wef (“a blow, stroke”), from weven (“to travel, wander; to move to and fro, flutter, waver; to blow something away, waft; to cause something to move; to fall; to cut deeply; to sever; to give up, yield; to give deference to; to avoid; to afflict, trouble; to beckon, signal”); further etymology uncertain, perhaps from Old English wefan (“to weave”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“to braid, weave”)), or from wǣfan (see bewǣfan, ymbwǣfan); and * partly onomatopoeic. Noun sense 6 (“name of a number of flatfish”) is possibly derived from sense 1 (“brief, gentle breeze; a light gust of air”), sense 4 (“small quantity of cloud, smoke, vapour, etc.”), and other such senses. The verb and adject

1662, in sense “flutter as blown by wind”, as whiff + -le (“(frequentative)”) and (onomatopoeia) sound of wind, particularly a leaf fluttering in unsteady wind; compare whiff. Sense “something small or insignificant” is from 1680.

From Old English hwil, "a space of time" — ultimately from a very old root meaning "rest" or "pause".

From Middle English whilende, whilwende, from Old English hwīlende, hwīlwende (“transitory, temporary, temporal”), from hwīl (“time, while”) + -wende (“moving, going about, turning”, suffix), equivalent to while + wending.

From Middle English whil er, whileere [and other forms], whilom er (“some while ago or before, formerly”), from Old English hwīle ǣr, hwīlum ǣr, from hwīle (accusative singular of hwīl), hwīlum (“at some time in the past, once; sometimes”) (dative plural of hwīl (“period of time, a while”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷyeh₁- (“to rest; peace, rest”)) + ǣr (“before”) (ultimately from Proto-Germanic *airiz (“before, earlier”)). The English word is analysable as while + ere.

From Middle English whilom (“(adverb) at one time, formerly, once; once upon a time; at times, sometimes; at a future time; (conjunction) while”) [and other forms], from Old English hwīlum, hwīlan, hwīlon (“at one time, once; sometimes”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwīlum, the dative plural of *hwīlu (“period of time, time, while; period of rest, pause”), from Proto-Germanic *hwīlō (“period of time, time, while; period of rest, pause”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷyeh₁- (“to rest; peace, rest”). The Oxford English Dictionary regards adverb sense 2.2 (“for some time that has passed”) as “aberrant”. Cognates * Old High German hwīlōn (Middle High German wīlen, wīlent, German weiland (“at one time, formerly”)) * Old Saxon hwīlon (“sometimes”) (Middle Dutch wilen, Middle Low German wilen (“at one time, formerly”), Dutch wijlen (“deceased, late”))

Built from Middle English whiles ("while", used adverbially) plus an added -t sound, a pattern also seen in words like "amongst" and "amidst".

A shortened form of the older word whim-wham, itself of uncertain origin, likely echoing the playful, erratic feel of the idea it describes.

From an old dialect word whimp, meaning "to whine", with the frequentative ending -er added to suggest a repeated, ongoing sound.

Formed from whimsy plus the adjective ending -ical.

From whimsical + -ity.

From whim + -some.

Probably formed from whim plus the noun ending -y; closely related to the older word whim-wham.

From Old English hwinan, "to make a whistling or whizzing sound" — the meaning narrowed over time to focus on complaining.

From whine + -er.

From a northern variant of Old English hwinsian (“to whine”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwinisōn (“to whine”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwīnan (“to whine”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwey- (“to hiss, whistle, whisper”). Cognate with German winseln (“to whine, whimper”).

From Middle English whinien, related to whine — both describe a drawn-out vocal sound.