waist

English

Alternative forms

• waste, wast (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English waste, wast ‎(“stature, waist”), from Old English *wǣst, *wǣxt, from Proto-Germanic *wahstuz ‎(“growth, development, stature, build”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂weg-s- ‎(“to multiply, increase”). Cognate with Middle High German wahst ‎(“growth”), Danish vækst ‎(“growth”), Swedish växt ‎(“growth, development, size”), Icelandic vöxtur ‎(“growth”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌷𐍃𐍄𐌿𐍃 ‎(wahstus, “growth”). Related to Old English weaxan ‎(“to grow, increase”). More at wax.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /weɪst/
• Rhymes: -eɪst
• Homophones: waste

Noun

waist ‎(plural waists)

1. The part of the body between the pelvis and the stomach.
2. A part of a piece of clothing that covers the waist.
3. The narrow connection between the thorax and abdomen in certain insects (e.g., bees, ants and wasps).
4. The middle portion of the hull of a ship or the fuselage of an aircraft.
5. (nautical) That part of the upper deck of a ship between the quarterdeck and the forecastle.
   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, chapter 18

     There he stood, very quietly overlooking some sailmakers who were mending a top-sail in the waist.

Derived terms

terms derived from waist

pantywaist waistband waist cincher waistcoat

waistless waistline wasp waist

Translations

part of the body between the pelvis and the stomach

• Albanian: bel (sq) m
• Arabic: خَصْر m ‎(ḵaṣr), وَسَط m ‎(wasaṭ)

  Egyptian Arabic: وسط m ‎(weṣṭ)

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Bashkir: бил ‎(bil)
• Basque: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: та́лія f ‎(tálija)
• Breton: dargreiz (br) m, bandenn (br) f
• Bulgarian: та́лия f ‎(tálija)
• Catalan: cintura f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 腰 (zh) ‎(yāo), 腰部 (zh) ‎(yāobù)

• Coptic: ϯⲡⲓ f ‎(dibi, tipi)
• Czech: pas (cs) m
• Danish: talje c
• Dutch: middel (nl) n
• Esperanto: talio
• Estonian: vöökoht
• Finnish: vyötärö (fi)
• French: taille (fr) f
• Galician: cintura (gl) f, van (gl) m, cós m
• Georgian: წელი (ka) ‎(c̣eli)
• German: Taille (de) f
• Greek: μέση (el) f ‎(mési)
• Hawaiian: pūhaka
• Hebrew: מֹתֶן (he) m ‎(moten)
• Hindi: कमर (hi) f ‎(kamar)
• Hungarian: derék (hu)
• Icelandic: mitti (is) n
• Ido: tayo (io)
• Indonesian: pinggang (id)
• Italian: vita (it) f, cintura (it) f, cintola (it) f
• Japanese: 胴のくびれ ‎(どうのくびれ, dō-no kubire), 腰部 (ja) ‎(ようぶ, yōbu), 胴回り ‎(どうまわり, dōmawari)
• Kazakh: бел ‎(bel)

• Khmer: ចង្កេះ (km) ‎(cɑŋkeh)
• Korean: 허리 (ko) ‎(heori)
• Kurdish: navteng (ku) f, newq (ku) f, که‌مه‌ر (ku)
• Lao: ແອວ (lo) ‎('ǣu)
• Latvian: viduklis m, jostasvieta f
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Manchu: dara, darama
• Maori: please add this translation if you can
• Miyako: ヨーラ ‎(jōra)
• Mongolian: бэлхүүс (mn) ‎(belhüüs)
• Norwegian: midje
• Old Turkic: 𐰋𐰃𐰠 ‎(bél)
• Oriya: please add this translation if you can
• Ottoman Turkish: بل ‎(bel), بيل ‎(bîl), کمر ‎(kemer)
• Persian: كمر (fa)
• Polish: talia (pl) f, pas (pl) m
• Portuguese: cintura (pt) f
• Romani: mashkar m
• Romanian: mijloc (ro), talie (ro)
• Russian: та́лия (ru) f ‎(tálija)
• Scottish Gaelic: meadhan m
• Spanish: cintura (es) f
• Sundanese: angkeng (su)
• Swahili: kiuno (sw)
• Swedish: midja (sv)
• Tagalog: baywang (tl)
• Tamil: இடுப்பு (ta) ‎(iṭuppu)
• Telugu: నడుము (te) ‎(naḍumu)
• Thai: เอว (th) ‎(eeo), สะเอว, กะเอว (th), บั้นเอว
• Turkish: bel (tr)
• Tuvan: бел кежик ‎(bäl käžïk), бел кеш ‎(bäl käš), бел кежи ‎(bäl käžï)
• Ukrainian: та́лія f ‎(tálija)
• Urdu: کمر f ‎(kamar)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: please add this translation if you can
• Zazaki: mér

a part of a piece of clothing that covers the waist

• Danish: talje c
• French: taille (fr) f, ceinture (fr) f
• Hawaiian: pākana
• Icelandic: mitti (is) n

• Polish: pas (pl) m
• Russian: по́яс (ru) m ‎(pójas), лиф (ru) m ‎(lif) (bodice)
• Scottish Gaelic: meadhan m

the narrow connection between the thorax and abdomen in certain insects

• Danish: hvepsetalje c

• French: taille (fr) f

the middle portion of the hull of a ship or the fuselage of an aircraft

• Estonian: kesktekk
• German: Rumpf (de) m

• Hungarian: törzs (hu)
• Russian: шкафут (ru) m ‎(škafut)

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.

Translations to be checked

• Breton: bandenn f (2)
• Dutch: middendek n (4)
• Italian: vita f (2)

Anagrams

• Swati
• waits

External links

• Waist in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.
• Waist on Wikipedia.en.Wikipedia:Waist (disambiguation)

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Gothic

Romanization

waist

1. Romanization of 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍃𐍄