"W" Word Origins

whip

Middle English · 1700

From Middle English whippen, "to move suddenly", related to Dutch wippen ("to swing or bounce") — the political sense comes from "whipper-in", the huntsman who kept hounds from straying, borrowed into parliamentary slang in the 1700s.

whiplash

Origin

A compound of whip and lash, describing an injury that mimics the snapping motion of a whip.

whippersnapper

Origin

Extension of *whip-snapper (“a cracker of whips”), or perhaps from snipper-snapper. Compare also whipperginnie (“term of abuse for a woman”), late 16th c.

whipstitch

Origin

From whip + stitch.

whirl

Old English

From Middle English whirlen, related to Old English hweorfan, "to turn" — the same root that eventually gave English the word "wharf".

whirligig

Origin

From Middle English whyrlegygge; equivalent to whirl (noun or verb) + gig (“a top”).

whirlpool

Origin

A compound of whirl and pool, describing water that spins around itself instead of flowing straight.

whirlwind

Origin

A compound of whirl and wind, describing wind that spins in place rather than blowing in a straight line.

whirlybird

Origin

From whirly + bird.

whirr

Origin

From Middle English whirren, probably from Old Norse: compare Danish hvirre, virre, Norwegian kvirre, Old Norse hvirfla (“to whirl, spread”).

whisk

Old Norse

From Old Norse visk, meaning "a bundle" — originally referring to a bundle of twigs used as a simple brush, later applied to the wire kitchen tool.

whisker

Middle English

From Middle English wisker, formed from the verb whisk plus -er, originally referring to something that whisks or brushes lightly.

whiskey

French

From Scottish Gaelic uisge beatha, literally "water of life" — the same phrase that also gave French its word eau-de-vie.

whisper

Old English

From Old English hwisprian, "to murmur or mutter" — imitative in origin, echoing the soft hissing sound of quiet speech.

whisperer

Origin · 1998

From whisper plus -er; the sense of a calming expert became popular after the 1998 film The Horse Whisperer.

whist

Origin

Likely an alteration of whisk, possibly from the idea of "whisking" up the cards after each round of play.

whistle

Old English

From Old English hwistlian, an imitative word that mimics the sound it describes.

whistler

Middle English

From Middle English whisteler, whistlar, whystelare, from Old English hwistlere (“a player on a flute; a piper”), equivalent to whistle + -er.

whistling

Middle English

Inherited from Middle English whistlynge, equivalent to whistle + -ing.

whit

Old English

From Old English wiht, "a thing" or "a creature" — the same root that also produced the word "wight"; over time it narrowed to mean the smallest conceivable amount of something.

Whitaker

Old English

From Old English *Hwītæcer (literally “white-acre”).

Whitby

Old Norse

From Old Norse hvítr býr (“white town”). Equivalent to white + -by.

white

Old English

From Old English hwīt, going all the way back to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "bright, shining" — the same root that gives related words for light and gleaming across many European languages.

white-collar

English

From the white dress shirts traditionally worn by office and clerical staff.

whitebeam

Origin

From Middle English witbeam, equivalent to white + beam (“tree”) – see Old English bēam (“tree”). In the name, white refers to the color of the leaves, when emergent and later the undersides.

whiteboy

Origin

From white + boy, from the white smocks the members wore in their nightly raids.

Whitechapel

Origin

Named after a small chapel of ease dedicated to St Mary.

Whitehall

Middle English

From Middle English whit (“white”) + halgh (“corner, nook; hall”).

whitehead

Origin

From white + head.

whitelist

English

From white plus list, formed by analogy with the older blacklist.

whitemail

Origin

From white + mail, by analogy with blackmail.

whiteman

Origin

Doublet of Weissmann.

whiten

Origin

From Middle English whitenen, whitnen, from Old Norse hvítna (“to whiten”), from Proto-Germanic *hwītnōną (“to whiten, become white”), from Proto-Indo-European *kwind-, *kwint- (“bright”), equivalent to white + -en. Cognate with Icelandic hvítna (“to whiten”), Swedish vitna, hvitna (“to whiten”), Danish hvidne (“to whiten”). Compare Old English hwītian (“to whiten, become white, be white, make white”).

whiteness

Old English

From Old English hwītnes, simply white plus the noun-forming suffix -ness.

whiteout

Origin

Deverbal from white out.

whitepaper

English

From white paper, a British government term for an official report presented to Parliament, so called from the plain white covers that distinguished such reports from other papers.

whites

Latin

In reference to the ancient Roman and medieval Byzantine racing faction, a calque of Latin albī (“Whites”), albātī (“White-Clads”), factio alba (“the white faction”), or factio albata (“the white-clad faction”) and Byzantine Greek Λευκοὶ (Leukoì, “Whites”).

Whiteside

Old English

From Old English hwīt (“white”) + sīde (“side; slope of a hill”).

whitewash

Origin

The noun combines white with wash; the verb followed from it, first meaning "to paint white" and later picking up the figurative sense of covering up faults.

whitewater

Origin

From white + water, see whitewater.

whitewood

Origin

A straightforward compound of white and wood, describing the pale colour of the timber.

Whitfield

Old English

From Old English hwīt (“white”) + feld (“field”).

whither

Old English

From Old English hwider, an old question-word meaning "to what place" — a relative of who and where that has mostly fallen out of everyday speech.

whiting

Origin

Built from white plus the suffix -ing, referring to the fish's pale flesh and the chalk's white colour.

whitish

Origin

From Middle English whitisch, whytyssh, equivalent to white + -ish.

Whitley

Old English

From Old English hwīt (“white”) + lēah (“woodland clearing, glade”). Equivalent to white + -ley (“lea”).

Whitlock

Middle English

From Middle English Whytlok, Whitelok, Witloc, Wictlok, Wyhtlok, Witlok, Whytlak, Whitlak; partly from Old English witlāc, wihtlāc (personal name) and partly from Middle English whyt (“white”) + lok (“lock, hair”).

whitlow

Origin

From Late Middle English, an alteration of whitflaw, with the first element deriving either from Middle Dutch vijt or Low German fit (“abscess”), borrowed from Latin fīcus (“fig-shaped (ulcer)”), though also influenced by white. The Latin loan also existed in other languages, such as Old English fic (“hemorrhoids”). See flaw.