英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

way (adv.)[way 词源字典]: c. 1200, short for away (adv.). Many expressions involving this are modern and American English colloquial, such as way-out "far off;" way back "a long time ago" (1887); way off "quite wrong" (1892). Any or all of these might have led to the slang adverbial meaning "very, extremely," attested by 1984 (as in way cool).[way etymology, way origin, 英语词源]
way-out (adj.): 1868, "far off," from way (adv.), short for away, + out. Sense of "original, bold," is jazz slang from 1940s, probably suggesting "far off" from what is conventional or expected.
wayfarer (n.): mid-15c., agent noun from way (n.) + fare (v.). Earlier was wayferer (late 14c.). The brand of sunglasses (manufactured by Ray-Ban) dates to 1952.
wayfaring (n.): 14c., modification of Old English wegfarende "wayfaring;" see way (n.) + fare (v.).
waylay (v.): "to ambush," 1510s, from way (n.) + lay (v.), on model of Middle Low German, Middle Dutch wegelagen "besetting of ways, lying in wait with evil or hostile intent along public ways." Related: Waylaid; waylaying.
Wayne: surname, by 1319, variant of Wain, representing wainwright, wainer (see wain) or perhaps "one who dwells by the tavern with the sign of the wain."
wayside (n.): "the side of the road," c. 1400, from way (n.) + side (n.). To fall by the wayside is from Luke viii:5.
wayward (adj.): late 14c., shortening of aweiward "turned away," from way (adv.), shortening of away + -ward. Related: Waywardly; waywardness.
we (pron.): Old English we, first person plural pronoun, "I and another or others," from Proto-Germanic *wiz (cognates: Old Saxon wi, Old Norse ver, Danish vi, Old Frisian wi, Dutch wij, Old High German and German wir, Gothic weis "we"), from PIE *we- (cognates: Sanskrit vayam, Old Persian vayam, Hittite wesh "we," Old Church Slavonic ve "we two," Lithuanian vedu "we two").

The "royal we" (use of plural pronoun to denote oneself) is at least as old as "Beowulf" (c.725); use by writers to establish an impersonal style is also from Old English; it was especially common 19c. in unsigned editorials, to suggest staff consensus, and was lampooned as such since at least 1853 (see wegotism).
weak (adj.): c. 1300, from Old Norse veikr "weak," cognate with Old English wac "weak, pliant, soft," from Proto-Germanic *waikwa- "yield" (cognates: Old Saxon wek, Swedish vek, Middle Dutch weec, Dutch week "weak, soft, tender," Old High German weih "yielding, soft," German weich "soft"), from PIE root *weik- (4) "to bend, wind" (see vicarious).

Sense of "lacking authority" is first recorded early 15c.; that of "lacking moral strength" late 14c. In grammar, denoting a verb inflected by regular syllabic addition rather than by change of the radical vowel, from 1833. Related: Weakly. Weak-kneed "wanting in resolve" is from 1870.
weaken (v.): late 14c., "to become feeble," from weak + -en (1). Transitive sense from 1560s. Related: Weakened; weakening.
weakfish (n.): 1838, from Dutch weekvisch, from week "soft" (see weak). So called because it does not pull hard when hooked.
weakling (n.): 1520s, coined by Tyndale from weak (adj.) + -ling as a loan-translation of Luther's Weichling "effeminate man" (from German weich "soft") in I Cor. vi.9, where the Greek is malakoi, from malakos "soft, soft to the touch," "Like the Lat. mollis, metaph. and in a bad sense: effeminate, of a catamite, a male who submits his body to unnatural lewdness" ["Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament"].
weakness (n.): c. 1300, "quality of being weak," from weak + -ness. Meaning "a disadvantage, vulnerability" is from 1590s. That of "self-indulgent fondness" is from 1712; meaning "thing for which one has an indulgent fondness" is from 1822.
weal (n.1): "well-being," Old English wela "wealth," in late Old English also "welfare, well-being," from West Germanic *welon-, from PIE root *wel- (2) "to wish, will" (see will (v.)). Related to well (adv.).
weal (n.2): "raised mark on skin," 1821, alteration of wale (q.v.).
weald (n.): Old English (West Saxon) weald "forest, woodland," specifically the forest between the North and South Downs in Sussex, Kent, and Surrey; a West Saxon variant of Anglian wald (see wold). Related: Wealden.
wealth (n.): mid-13c., "happiness," also "prosperity in abundance of possessions or riches," from Middle English wele "well-being" (see weal (n.1)) on analogy of health.
wealthy (adj.): late 14c., "happy, prosperous," from wealth + -y (2). Meaning "rich, opulent" is from early 15c. Noun meaning "wealthy persons collectively" is from late 14c.
wean (v.): "train (an infant or animal) to forego suckling," c. 1200, from Old English wenian "to accustom, habituate," from Proto-Germanic *wanjan (cognates: Old Norse venja, Dutch wennen, Old High German giwennan, German gewöhnen "to accustom"), from PIE *won-eyo-, from root *wen- (1) "to desire, strive for." The sense of "accustom a child to not suckling from the breast" in Old English generally was expressed by gewenian or awenian, which has a sense of "unaccustom" (compare German abgewöhnen, entwöhnen "to wean," literally "to unaccustom"). The modern word might be one of these with the prefix worn off, or it might be wenian in a specialized sense of "accustom to a new diet." Figurative extension to any pursuit or habit is from 1520s.