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widower (n.)[widower 词源字典]: "man who has lost his wife by death," late 14c., extended from widow (n.). The Old English masc. form was widewa. Similar formation in Middle Dutch weduwer, German Wittwer. Related: Widowerhood.[widower etymology, widower origin, 英语词源]
widowhood (n.): c. 1200, from widow (n.) + -hood. Modifying or replacing Old English wuduwanhad "state of a woman who has no husband."
width (n.): 1620s, formed from wide on model of breadth, and replacing wideness (Old English widnes). Johnson (1755) calls it "a low word." Related: Widthwise.
wield (v.): Old English weldan (Mercian), wieldan, wealdan (West Saxon) "have power over, compel, tame, subdue" (class VII strong verb; past tense weold, past participle gewealden), merged with weak verb wyldan, both from Proto-Germanic *waldan "to rule" (cognates: Old Saxon and Gothic waldan, Old Frisian walda "to govern, rule," Old Norse valda "to rule, wield, to cause," Old High German waltan, German walten "to rule, govern").

The Germanic words and cognates in Balto-Slavic (Old Church Slavonic vlado "to rule," vlasti "power," Russian vladeti "to reign, rule, possess, make use of," Lithuanian veldu "to rule, possess") probably are from PIE *woldh-, extended form of root *wal- "to be strong, to rule" (see valiant). Related: Wielded; wielding.
wieldy (adj.): late 14c., "capable of wielding," from wield + -y (2). Meaning "capable of being weilded" is from 1580s. Old English had wielde "powerful, victorious."
wiener (n.): 1900, shortening of wienerwurst (1874, American English), from German Wiener "of Vienna" (from Wien "Vienna," from Latin Vindo-bona; see Vienna) + Wurst "sausage" (see wurst). Colloquial wienie is attested by 1911. Extensive pejorative senses developed from its penis-like shape. Wiener roast is from 1910.
wife (n.): Old English wif (neuter) "woman, female, lady," also, but not especially, "wife," from Proto-Germanic *wiban (cognates: Old Saxon, Old Frisian wif, Old Norse vif, Danish and Swedish viv, Middle Dutch, Dutch wijf, Old High German wib, German Weib), of uncertain origin, not found in Gothic.

Apparently felt as inadequate in its basic sense, leading to the more distinctive formation wifman (source of woman). Dutch wijf now means, in slang, "girl, babe," having softened somewhat from earlier sense of "bitch." German cognate Weib also tends to be slighting or derogatory and has been displaced by Frau.

The more usual Indo-European word is represented in English by queen/quean. Words for "woman" also double for "wife" in some languages. Some proposed PIE roots for wife include *weip- "to twist, turn, wrap," perhaps with sense of "veiled person" (see vibrate); and more recently *ghwibh-, a proposed root meaning "shame," also "pudenda," but the only examples of it would be the Germanic words and Tocharian (a lost IE language of central Asia) kwipe, kip "female pudenda."

The modern sense of "female spouse" began as a specialized sense in Old English; the general sense of "woman" is preserved in midwife, old wives' tale, etc. Middle English sense of "mistress of a household" survives in housewife; and the later restricted sense of "tradeswoman of humble rank" in fishwife. By 1883 as "passive partner in a homosexual couple." Wife-swapping is attested from 1954.
wife-beater (n.): 1855, from wife (n.) + beater. Related: Wife-beating. As "sleeveless undershirt" from 2000.
wifely (adj.): Old English wiflic "womanly, pertaining to a woman," from wife + -ly (1). From late 14c. as "befitting a wife."
Wiffle: hollow, perforated plastic ball, registered trademark name (The Wiffle Ball Inc., Shelton, Connecticut, U.S.), claiming use from 1954. According to the company, designed in 1953 by David N. Mullany "in response to a lack of field space and numerous broken windows by his baseball-playing son," the name based on whiff (q.v.), baseball slang for a missed swing.
wig (n.): 1670s, shortened form of periwig. Meaning "person who wears a wig (professionally)" is from 1828.
wig (v.): 1826, "supply with a wig," from wig (n.). The meaning "to behave hysterically" (usually with out) is attested from 1955, perhaps from notion in flip one's wig. Compare dash my wig!, a former mild imprecation (1797), also wigs on the green (1856), Irish colloquial for "a fight or rumble" (because wigs are likely to get detached from owners in such an event). The verb also had a colloquial sense of "scold severely," attested by 1829, perhaps related to these. Related: Wigged; wigging.
wiggle (v.): early 13c., perhaps from Middle Dutch or Middle Flemish wigelen, frequentative of wiegen "to rock," from wiege "cradle," from Proto-Germanic *wig- (cognates: Old High German wiga, German Wiege "cradle," Old Frisian widze), from PIE root *wegh- "to move" (see weigh). Related: Wiggled; wiggling. The noun is attested from 1816.
wiggly (adj.): 1878, from wiggle (n.) + -y (2).
wight (n.): Old English wiht "living being, creature, person; something, anything," from Proto-Germanic *wihti- (cognates: Old Saxon wiht "thing, demon," Dutch wicht "a little child," Old High German wiht "thing, creature, demon," German Wicht "creature, little child," Old Norse vettr "thing, creature," Swedish vätte "spirit of the earth, gnome," Gothic waihts "something"), from PIE *wekti- "thing, creature" (source also of Old Church Slavonic vešti "a thing"). Not related to the Isle of Wight, which is from Latin Vectis (c. 150), originally Celtic, possibly meaning "place of the division."
wigwam (n.): 1620s, from Algonquian (probably Eastern Abenaki) wikewam "a dwelling," said to mean literally "their house;" also said to be found in such formations as wikiwam and Ojibwa wiigiwaam and Delaware wiquoam.
wiki (n.): web page that can be edited by browsers, by 2002, abstracted from names of such sites (such as Wikipedia, launched January 2001), the original being WikiWikiWeb, introduced and named by Ward Cunningham in 1995, from Hawaiian wikiwiki "fast, swift."
wilco: 1945, in two-way radio slang, abbreviation and conflation of will comply.
wild (n.): "uncultivated or desolate region," 1590s, in the wilds. From wild (adj.). Earlier it meant "wild animal" (c. 1200).
wild (adj.): Old English wilde "in the natural state, uncultivated, untamed, undomesticated, uncontrolled," from Proto-Germanic *wilthja- (cognates: Old Saxon wildi, Old Norse villr, Old Frisian wilde, Dutch wild, Old High German wildi, German wild, Gothic wilþeis "wild," German Wild (n.) "game"), from PIE root *welt- "woodlands; wild" (see wold).
Ursula ... hath bin at all the Salsbury rasis, dancing like wild with Mr Clarks. [letter, 1674]
Meaning "sexually dissolute, loose" is attested from mid-13c. Meaning "distracted with excitement or emotion, crazy" is from 1590s. U.S. slang sense of "exciting, excellent" is recorded from 1955. As an adverb from 1540s. Baseball wild pitch is recorded from 1867. Wildest dreams attested from 1717. Wild West in a U.S. context recorded by 1826. Wild Turkey brand of whiskey (Austin Nichols Co.) in use from 1942.