"W" Word Origins

welch

Welsh

An alternative spelling of "welsh" (in the sense "to fail to pay a debt"), originally from the ethnic term Welsh — the connection to the Welsh people is unclear and the usage is now considered by many to be offensive in origin, though it survives mainly as a set phrase.

welcome

Old English

From Old English wilcuma, literally "a person whose coming is wished for," combining will (desire) and come. The "wil-" was later reshaped into "wel-," influenced by the word "well," once people stopped connecting it to "will."

welcoming

Middle English

From Middle English welcomyng, equivalent to welcome + -ing.

Weld

Old English

From Middle English forms related to Old English words connected to the dye-plant "woad" — the sense shifted over time toward the modern metalworking meaning, likely through a separate but visually similar word for "to well up" or "swell."

welder

Origin

From weld + -er.

welding

Origin

By surface analysis, weld + -ing.

welfare

Old English · 1900

From the Old English phrase wel faran, "to fare well" — literally to travel or get along successfully. It later narrowed to mean government support for people in need, a sense first recorded in the early twentieth century.

welkin

Origin

Inherited from Middle English welkne (“weather; heavens; (earlier) cloud”), from Old English wolcnu (“sky, heavens”), plural form of wolcn (“cloud”), from Proto-West Germanic *wolkn (“cloud”), from Proto-Germanic *wulkną (“cloud”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *wĺ̥ɡ-no-m, from *welg- (“damp; wet”). Cognate with Dutch wolk (“cloud”), German Wolke (“cloud”).

well

Old English

From Old English wel, meaning "abundantly, fully, in a desired way" — ultimately from a root meaning "to wish" or "desire," the same root behind the word "will."

well-known

Middle English

From Middle English well knowen. By surface analysis, well + known.

Welles

Old English

Named after Well, Lincolnshire, from Old English wielle (“fountain, spring”). Cognate with English well.

Wellington

Origin

Named after Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, whose name was also given to the tall leather boot and, later, to this pastry-wrapped dish.

wellness

Origin

Built from "well" plus the suffix "-ness," which turns an adjective into a noun describing a state or quality.

Wells

Old English

From Old English wella, genitive plural of well (“spring”), in reference to a residence near a group of springs. The original use of the genitive case here would've indicated origin. The -s ending of the modern form would be added later on upon reanalysis after the breakdown of the case system (outside of pronouns) that occurred in the development of English.

wellspring

Origin

From Middle English wellespring, from Old English wiellspring, wiellġespring (“spring, fount, fountain”), corresponding to well + spring. More at well, spring.

welp

Origin

Representing well pronounced with the mouth snapped closed at the end. Compare yep, yup, nope, and ope.

Welsh

Old English

From Old English wælisc, originally meaning "foreign" or "Celtic/Roman," derived from the Germanic name for the Celtic and Roman peoples the Anglo-Saxons encountered.

Welt

German

Borrowed from German Welt in the sense of a bordering strip or edge.

weltanschauung

Origin

Unadapted borrowing from German Weltanschauung.

welter

Origin

From Middle English welteren, equivalent to welt + -er (frequentative suffix). Cognates include German Low German weltern (“to wallow; roll”), Old Norse velta (Danish vælte), German wälzen, Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌻𐍄𐌾𐌰𐌽 (waltjan). Akin to wallow and Latin volvō.

Wembley

Origin

Derived from an unattested Old English proper name *Wemba and lēah (“clearing in a forest; meadow, leigh”).

wen

Old English

From Old English wenn, meaning "a wen" or "boil" — an old, mostly informal term rarely used in modern medical writing.

wench

Old English

From Middle English wenche, a shortened form of wenchel ("child, young girl"), from Old English wenċel, meaning "child" or "servant."

Wendell

Origin

Short form of Germanic compound names beginning with the tribal name Wendel-, "a Wend".

wendigo

Origin

Borrowed from Ojibwe wiindigoo, ultimately from a Proto-Algonquian word connected to owls and malevolent, cannibalistic spirits.

Wendy

Origin · 1904

The given name Wendy was popularized by J. M. Barrie's play Peter Pan (1904); the slang sense of "coward" is a later, unrelated informal British usage.

went

Origin

"Went" was originally the past tense of a different verb, "wend" (meaning to travel or turn), but over time it was absorbed into the verb "go" as its past tense, replacing the older form "gaed."

Wentworth

Origin

From either the Old English byname Wintra, or Old English winter (“winter”) + worþ (“enclosure”).

wer

Latin

From Old English wer, "man," related to Latin vir (also "man"), which gives us words like "virile."

were

Middle English

Inherited from Middle English were, wer, see wer.

werewolf

Old English

From Old English werewulf, literally "man-wolf," combining the old word wer ("man") with wulf ("wolf").

wergeld

Origin

Learned borrowing from Old English werġeld, wereġeld (“compensation for a man killed”), from Proto-West Germanic *werageld. More at wer, geld.

wersh

Origin

From a reduced form of wearish.

Wesley

Old English

Several places in England, from Old English west (“west”) + lēah (“wood, clearing”). Equivalent to west + -ley (“lea”).

wesleyan

Origin

From Wesley + -an.

Wessex

Middle English

From Middle English Westsex, from Old English Westseaxan (literally “West Saxons”), which stood for both Wessex and its people. The use of Wessex in a modern context for the West Country was popularised by Thomas Hardy, who used the term for his semi-fictional setting based on the region.

Wesson

Origin

A patronymic surname from Wes + -son, literally son of Wes, the latter a diminutive of the male given name Wesley.

west

Old English

Traces back through Old English west to a very old Germanic root tied to the word for "evening" — since west is, after all, where the sun goes down.

westbound

Origin

Built from west plus the suffix -bound, which marks direction of travel (as in "homebound" or "outbound").

Westbrook

Origin

From the Old English words for "west brook".

Westchester

Origin

From west + Chester in England.

wester

Origin

From west + -er.

western

Old English

From Old English westerne, formed from west plus the adjective ending -ern, seen also in "northern" and "eastern."

westerner

Origin

Formed from western plus the agent suffix -er, meaning "a person belonging to."

Westlake

Origin

From west + lake.

Westley

Old English

From Old English west + lēah (“westerly wood or clearing”); in Suffolk recorded as Westlea in 1086 (DB).

westman

Origin

From west + man. A calque of Old Norse vestmaðr, from vest (“west”) + maðr (“man”).

Westminster

Middle English

From the abbey of Westminster; from Middle English Westmynster, from Old English Westmynster; equivalent to west + minster.