wield

English

Etymology

From Old English wieldan (“to control”), a derivative of wealdan "to govern", from Germanic *walt-. Cognate with German walten, Swedish vålla. Non-Germanic cognates include Albanian ul (“to put down, lower, abate, submit”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: wēld, IPA: /wiːld/, X-SAMPA: /wi:ld/

• Homophone: wheeled (in accents with the wine-whine merger)

Verb

wield (third-person singular simple present wields, present participle wielding, simple past and past participle wielded)

1. (obsolete) To command, rule over; to possess or own.
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book V:

     There was never kyng sauff myselff that welded evir such knyghtes.

2. (obsolete) To control, to guide or manage.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, V.10:

     With such his chearefull speaches he doth wield / Her mind so well, that to his will she bends […].

3. To handle with skill and ease, especially of a weapon or tool.
4. To exercise (authority or influence) effectively.

Translations

to handle with skill and ease

• Finnish: hallita (fi)

• Russian: владеть (ru) (vladétʹ)

to exercise authority or influence

• Finnish: hallita (fi)

• Russian: властвовать (ru) (vlástvovatʹ)

Anagrams

• Wilde
• wiled

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Scots

Etymology

From Old English wieldan (“to control”), a derivative of wealdan "to govern", from Germanic *walt-. Cognate with German walten, Swedish vålla.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /wiːld/

Verb

wield

1. To control, to guide or manage.