wend
English
Etymology
From Middle English wenden, from Old English wendan (“to turn, change, translate”), from Proto-Germanic *wandijaną (“to turn”), causative of Proto-Germanic *windaną (“to wind”), from Proto-Indo-European *wendʰ- (“to turn, wind, braid”). Cognate with Dutch wenden (“to turn”), German wenden (“to turn, reverse”), Danish vende (“to turn”), Norwegian Bokmål vende (“to turn”), Norwegian Nynorsk venda (“to turn”), Swedish vända (“to turn, turn over, veer, direct”), Icelandic venda (“to wend, turn, change”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (wandjan, “to cause to turn”). Related to wind (Etymology 2).
Pronunciation
- (UK, General American) IPA(key): /wɛnd/
Audio (UK) (file)
- Rhymes: -ɛnd
Verb
wend (third-person singular simple present wends, present participle wending, simple past and past participle wended or (archaic) went)
- (transitive, obsolete) To turn; change, to adapt.
- (transitive) To direct (one's way or course); pursue one's way; proceed upon some course or way.
- We wended our weary way westward.
- 1557 July 1, Virgil, “The Fowrth Boke of Virgiles Aenæis”, in Henry [Howard, Earl] of Surrey, transl.; William Bolland, editor, Certain Bokes of Virgiles Aenaeis, Turned into English Meter ([Roxburghe Club Publications; I]), London: […] A[braham] J[ohn] Valpy, […], published 1814, OCLC 940064673:
- And ſtill her thought that ſhe was left alone / Uncompanied great viages to wende.
- 2021, Robin Craig, In term-opener, justices will hear Mississippi’s complaint that Tennessee is stealing its groundwater, in: SCOTUSblog, October 1 2021
- Like most original jurisdiction water cases, Mississippi v. Tennessee has taken a few years to wend its way to Supreme Court oral argument, and that argument will be keyed to the parties’ objections to the report of a court-appointed special master.
- (intransitive, obsolete) To turn; make a turn; go round; veer.
- c. 1611, Walter Raleigh, A Discourse on the Invention of Ships &c.
- with the prowe at both ends, so as they need not to wend or hold water
- c. 1611, Walter Raleigh, A Discourse on the Invention of Ships &c.
- (intransitive, obsolete) To pass away; disappear; depart; vanish.
Usage notes
The modern past tense of wend is wended. Originally it was went, similarly to pairs such as send/sent, spend/spent, lend/lent, rend/rent, or blend/blent. However, went was co-opted as the past tense of go (replacing Early Modern English and Middle English yede, Old English eode) and using it as the past tense of wend is now considered archaic.
The modern usage of wend is almost always accompanied by way.[1]
Synonyms
- to betake oneself
Derived terms
- bewend
- wander
- wending
Related terms
- wind
Translations
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Noun
wend (plural wends)
- (obsolete, UK, law) A large extent of ground; a perambulation; a circuit[2]
References
- Arika Okrent (2019-07-05), “12 Old Words That Survived by Getting Fossilized in Idioms”, in Mental Floss, Pocket, retrieved 2021-10-08
- 1859, Alexander Mansfield, Law Dictionary
Further reading
- wend in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “wend”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Alemannic German
Alternative forms
- wénn, winn, wind
Etymology
From Old High German wint, from Proto-Germanic *windaz. Cognate with German Wind, Dutch wind, English wind, Icelandic vindur, Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌽𐌳𐍃 (winds).
Noun
wend m
- (Rimella and Campello Monti) wind
References
- Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Luserna / Lusérn: Le nostre parole / Ünsarne börtar / Unsere Wörter [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien
Dutch
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ʋɛnt]
Audio (file) - Rhymes: -ɛnt
Verb
wend
- first-person singular present indicative of wenden
- imperative of wenden
German
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
Verb
wend
- singular imperative of wenden
Middle English
Noun
wend
- Alternative form of wynd