English

want

/wɒnt/
To wish for or desire (something); to feel a need or desire for; to crave, hanker, or demand.

    Etymology graph

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    Origin

    Etymology 1

    From Middle English wanten (“to lack, to need”), from Old Norse vanta (“to lack”), from Proto-Germanic *wanatōną (“to be wanting, lack”), from *wanô (“lack, deficiency”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- (“empty”). Cognate with Middle High German wan (“not full, empty”), Middle Dutch wan (“empty, poor”), Old English wana (“want, lack, absence, deficiency”), Latin vanus (“empty”). See wan, wan-.

    Etymology 2

    From Middle English wont (“mole”), from Old English wand, wond, from Proto-Germanic *wanduz.

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • inheritedMiddle Englishwanten “to lack, to need”
      • borrowedOld Norsevanta “to be lacking”
        • inheritedProto-Germanic*wanatōną “to be wanting, lack”
          • derivedProto-Germanic*wanô “lack, deficiency”
    • rootProto-Indo-European*h₁weh₂- “empty”
    • inheritedMiddle Englishwont “mole”
      • inheritedOld Englishwand “mole”
        • inheritedProto-Germanic*wanduz
          • inheritedProto-Indo-European*wendʰ- “to turn; to wind”

    Related: Middle High German wan, Middle Dutch wan, Old English wana, Latin vanus

    Words built on it: wanted

    Sources