英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

wriggle [wriggle 词源字典]: wriggle: see wry
[wriggle etymology, wriggle origin, 英语词源]
wright: wright: see work
wring: wring: see wrong
wrist: wrist: [OE] The wrist is etymologically the ‘twisting’ joint. The word goes back to prehistoric Germanic *wristiz, which also produced German rist ‘instep, wrist’ and Swedish vrist ‘instep, ankle’. This was derived from the base *writh-, whose wr- sound seems originally to have been symbolic of the action of twisting. Variants of the base lie behind English wreath [OE], wrest [OE], and writhe [OE]; and gaiter may be related.
=> wreath, wrest, writhe
write: write: [OE] The etymological notion underlying write is of ‘cutting’ or ‘scratching’ (it is related to German reissen ‘tear’). The earliest form of writing involved cutting marks on stone, wood, etc, and the same word was carried over when the technology of writing moved on to pen and ink. It comes from a prehistoric Germanic *wrītan, but its ultimate origins are not known. The noun writ [OE] goes back to the same Germanic base.
=> writ
writhe: writhe: see wrist
wrong: wrong: [OE] Etymologically, wrong probably means ‘twisted’. It was borrowed into late Old English from Old Norse *vrangr ‘awry’ (rangr is the recorded form), which was descended from prehistoric Germanic *wrangg- (source also of English wrangle [14]). A variant of the same base, *wrengg-, produced English wring [OE].
=> wrangle, wring
wrought: wrought: see work
wry: wry: [16] Wry means literally ‘twisted’ (many other English words beginning with wr-, such as wrist and writhe, share the same basic meaning). It comes from the now obsolete verb wry ‘deviate, twist’, which was descended from Old English wrīgian ‘turn, tend in a particular direction’. Wriggle [15] is probably related.
=> wriggle
wyvern: wyvern: see viper
W: not in the Roman alphabet, but the Modern English sound it represents is close to the devocalized consonant expressed by Roman -U- or -V-. In Old English, this originally was written -uu-, but by 8c. began to be expressed by the runic character wyn (Kentish wen), which looked like this: ƿ (the character is a late addition to the online font set and doesn't display properly on many computers, so it's something like a combination of lower-case -p- and a reversed -y-). In 11c., Norman scribes introduced -w-, a ligatured doubling of Roman -u- which had been used on the continent for the Germanic "w" sound, and wyn disappeared c. 1300. -W- is not properly a letter in the modern French alphabet, and it is used there only in borrowed foreign words, such as wagon, weekend, Western, whisky, wombat.
W.C. (n.): "lavatory," by 1871, abbreviation of water-closet.
WAC: 1943, American English, acronym from Women's Army Corps, formed 1943.
wack (n.): "crazy person," 1938, back-formation from wacky. Adjective in slang sense of "worthless, stupid," is attested from late 1990s.
wacke (n.): rock resembling sandstone, 1803, from German Wacke, from Middle High German wacke "large stone, rock projecting from the surface of the ground," from Old High German wacko, waggo "gravel, pebble," probably from Old High German wegan "to move." A miner's word, brought into geology by German geologist Abraham Gottlob Werner (1750-1817).
wacko (n.): extended form of wack, by 1971.
wacky (adj.): "crazy, eccentric," 1935, variant of whacky (n.) "fool," late 1800s British slang, probably ultimately from whack "a blow, stroke," from the notion of being whacked on the head one too many times.
wad (n.): early 15c., wadde, "small bunch of fibrous, soft material for padding or stuffing," of uncertain origin, perhaps from Medieval Latin wadda (14c., source also of French ouate, Italian ovate), or Dutch watten (source of German Watte), or Middle English wadmal (c. 1300) "coarse woolen cloth," which seems to be from Old Norse vaðmal "a woolen fabric of Scandinavia," probably from vað "cloth" + mal "measure."

The meaning "something bundled up tightly" (especially paper currency) is from 1778. To shoot (one's) wad "do all one can do" is recorded from 1914. The immediate source of the expression probably is the sense of "disk of cloth used to hold powder and shot in place in a gun." Wad in slang sense of "a load of semen" is attested from 1920s, and the expression now often is felt in this sense. As a suffix, -wad in 1980s joined -bag, -ball, -head in combinations meaning "disgusting or unpleasant person."
wad (v.): 1570s, "put a wad into," from wad (n.). From 1670s as "form into a wad;" 1759 as "pad or stuff with wadding." Related: Wadded; wadding.
wadding (n.): "stuffing," 1620s, verbal noun from wad (v.).