英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

witty (adj.)[witty 词源字典]: Old English wittig "clever, wise, sagacious; in one's right mind;" see wit (n.) "intellect" + -y (2). Meaning "possessing sparkling wit" is recorded from 1580s. Related: Wittily; wittiness.[witty etymology, witty origin, 英语词源]
wive (v.): "to marry (a woman)," Old English wifian, from wif "woman" (see wife). Compare Middle Dutch wiven. Transitive sense "provide with a wife" is from 1510s. Related: Wived; wiving.
wivern (n.): see wyvern.
wizard (n.): early 15c., "philosopher, sage," from Middle English wys "wise" (see wise (adj.)) + -ard. Compare Lithuanian zynyste "magic," zynys "sorcerer," zyne "witch," all from zinoti "to know." The ground sense is perhaps "to know the future." The meaning "one with magical power, one proficient in the occult sciences" did not emerge distinctly until c. 1550, the distinction between philosophy and magic being blurred in the Middle Ages. As a slang word meaning "excellent" it is recorded from 1922.
wizardry (n.): 1580s, from wizard + -ry.
wizen (v.): Old English wisnian, weosnian "to wither, dry up, waste away," from Proto-Germanic *wisnon (cognates: Old Norse visna "to wither," Old High German wesanen "to dry up, shrivel, wither;" German verwesen "to decay, rot"), from PIE root *wei- (2) "to wither." Related: Wizened.
wl-: an initial sound cluster in words in Old English and early Middle English; among the Old English words were wlanc "stately, splendid;" wlætung "nausea;" wlenc "pride, arrogance" (Middle English wlonk); wlite "brightness, beauty, splendor;" wlitig" radiant, physically beautiful (Middle English wliti).
woad (n.): Old English wad "woad," also the blue dye made from its leaves, from Proto-Germanic *waido- (cognates: Danish vaid, Old Frisian wed, Middle Dutch wede, Dutch wede, Old High German weit, German Waid "woad"), perhaps cognate with Latin vitrium "glass" (see vitreous). Formerly much cultivated; since superseded by indigo. French guède, Italian guado are Germanic loan-words.
wobbegong (n.): type of Australian shark, 1852, an Aboriginal word.
wobble (v.): 1650s, wabble, probably from Low German wabbeln "to wobble;" cognate with Old Norse vafla "hover about, totter," related to vafra "move unsteadily," from Proto-Germanic *wab- "to move back and forth," perhaps from PIE *webh- "to weave" (see waver). Form with -o- is from 1851. Related: Wobbled; wobbling. The noun is attested from 1690s.
Wobbly (n.): 1914, member of Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.). Probably some sort of elaboration of the W aspect of the acronym.
wobbly (adj.): 1849, wabbly; see wobble (v.) + -ly (1). Form with -o- is from 1851. Related: Wobbliness.
Woden: Anglo-Saxon god, Old English, see Odin.
woe (n.): late 12c., from the interjection, Old English wa!, a common exclamation of lament in many languages (compare Latin væ, Greek oa, German weh, Lettish wai, Old Irish fe, Welsh gwae, Armenian vay).
woebegone (adj.): c. 1300, in expressions such as me is wo bigone "woe has beset me," from woe + begon "to beset, surround, overwhelm," from Old English began "go over, traverse; inhabit, occupy; surround, beset, overrun;" from be + go.
woeful (adj.): early 14c., "afflicted with sorrow," from woe + -ful. Weakened sense of "very bad" recorded by 1610s. Related: Woefully; woefulness.
wog (n.): c. 1920, "a lower-class babu shipping clerk" [Partridge]; but popularized in World War II British armed forces slang for "Arab," also "native of India" (especially as a servant or laborer), roughly equivalent to American gook; possibly shortened from golliwog. Many acronym origins have been proposed, but none has been found satisfactory. Related: Wogland.
wok (n.): 1952, from Cantonese.
woke: past tense of wake (v.).
wold (n.): Old English wald (Anglian), weald (West Saxon, Kentish) "forest, wooded upland," from Proto-Germanic *walthuz (cognates: Old Saxon and Old Frisian wald, Middle Dutch woude, wold, Dutch woud, Middle Low German walde, Old High German wald, German Wald "forest," Swedish vall "pasture," Old Norse völlr "soil, field, meadow"), from PIE root *welt- "woods; wild." The sense development from "forested upland" to "rolling open country" (c. 1200) perhaps is from Scandinavian influence, or a testimony to the historical deforestation of Britain. Not current since mid-16c.; survives mainly in place names (such as Cotswold).