welcome

Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to: navigation, search

Contents

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

From Middle English welcome, wolcume, wulcume, wilcume, from Old English wilcuma ("one whose coming is pleasant, a welcome person or thing, a guest"; compare also wilcume (welcome!, interjection)), from Proto-Germanic *weljakwumô (a comer, a welcomed guest), equivalent to will (desire) +‎ come (comer, arrival). Cognate with Scots walcome (welcome), West Frisian wolkom (welcome), Dutch welkom (welcome), German willkommen (welcome), Danish and Norwegian velkommen (welcome), Swedish välkommen (welcome), Icelandic velkomin (welcome).

Similar constructions are common in Romance languages, such as Spanish bienvenido, French bienvenue and Portuguese bem-vindo, each meaning “[may you have fared] well [in] coming [here]”. These do not derive from Classic Latin, where a similar construction is not found, and presumably are instead the result of a calque from Germanic to Proto-Romance (Vulgar Latin).

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Interjection

welcome

  1. Greeting given upon someone’s arrival.

[edit] Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

[edit] Verb

welcome (third-person singular simple present welcomes, present participle welcoming, simple past and past participle welcomed)

  1. to affirm or greet the arrival of someone, especially by saying "Welcome!".
  2. to accept something willingly or gladly.
    We welcome suggestions for improvement.

[edit] Translations

[edit] Adjective

welcome (comparative more welcome, superlative most welcome)

  1. Whose arrival is a cause of joy.

[edit] Translations

[edit] Noun

welcome (plural welcomes)

  1. The act of greeting someone’s arrival, especially by saying "Welcome!"; reception.
  2. The utterance of such a greeting.

[edit] Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

[edit] Derived terms

Personal tools
Namespaces

Variants
Views
Actions
Navigation
Toolbox
In other languages