winsome
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Contents |
[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
From Middle English, from Old English wynsum (“winsome, pleasant, joyful, merry”), from Proto-Germanic *wunisamaz (“joyful”), from *wunjō (“joy, delight, desire”), from Proto-Indo-European *wun-, *wenǝ- (“to wish, love”), equivalent to winne + -some. Cognate with Scots winsome, wunsome (“charming, comely, pleasing”), Middle High German wunnesam (“winsome, joyful, delightful”), Old English wynn (“joy, rapture, pleasure, delight”), German Wonne (“bliss, delight, joy”). More at winne, winly.
[edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Adjective
winsome (comparative more winsome, superlative most winsome)
- Charming; inspiring trust and approval; especially if in an innocent manner.
- His bedside manner was especially winsome.
- 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses Chapter 13
- Gerty MacDowell who was seated near her companions, lost in thought, gazing far away into the distance was, in very truth, as fair a specimen of winsome Irish girlhood as one could wish to see.
