"W" Word Origins

WYA

English

An initialism of where you at, a non-standard form of where are you.

Wyatt

Origin

Ultimately from the Old English personal name Wigheard, from wīg (“war”) + heard (“hard, brave”), later also used as a Middle English diminutive of the names Guy and William.

wychert

Origin

Possibly a compounding of dialectal forms of white + earth.

WYD

English

An initialism of what you doing, a clipped form of what are you doing.

wye

Origin

Attested as wi c. 1200. Of uncertain origin. Perhaps borrowed from Old French ui or gui.

WYM

English

An initialism of what you mean, a clipped form of what do you mean.

wynd

Origin

From Middle English wynde, probably from wynden (“to wind, proceed, go”). Compare also Old English ġewind; Old Norse venda.

Wyndham

Origin

Heterographic variant of Windham.

wynn

Old English

From Old English wynn, meaning "joy" — runes were traditionally named after words that began with the sound they represented.

wynne

Origin

Spelling variant of Wynn

Wyoming

Origin

Named after the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania, whose name comes from a Munsee (Lenape) word meaning roughly "at the big river flat."

wyrm

Origin

Learned borrowing from Old English wyrm. Doublet of worm, which was inherited.

wyvern

Origin

Alteration of Middle English wyver (“viper”), from Old Northern French wivre, from Vulgar Latin *vivra, *vibra, from Latin vīpera (“viper; snake, serpent”). Doublet of weever and viper. Related to viviparous.