wen

See also: Wen, weń, wên, wēn, wén, wěn, and wèn

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: wĕn, IPA^(key): /wɛn/
• Rhymes: -ɛn
• Homophone: when (in accents with the wine-whine merger)

Etymology 1

From Middle English wen, wenne, from Old English wenn, wænn (“wen”), from Proto-Germanic *wanjaz. Cognate with Dutch wen (“goiter”), Low German Ween (“wen”), dialectal German Wenne (“wen”), Danish van, væne.

Noun

wen (plural wens)

1. A cyst on the skin.
   • 1854, Henry David Thoreau, Walden, Walden:

     When I have met an immigrant tottering under a bundle which contained his all--looking like an enormous wen which had grown out of the nape of his neck--I have pitied him, not because that was his all, but because he had all that to carry.

   • 1973, Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow:

     Creeps, foreigners with tinted, oily skin, wens, sties, cysts, wheezes, bad teeth, limps, staring or—worse—with Strange Faraway Smiles.

   • 1996, David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest, Abacus 2013, p. 4:

     I am debating whether to risk scratching the right side of my jaw, where there is a wen.

Translations

a cyst on the skin

• Finnish: rakkula (fi), rakko (fi), kysta (fi)
• French: loupe (fr) f
• Irish: goirín m, ainglis f (familiar)
• Italian: natta (it) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Korean: 혹 (ko) (hog, hok)
• Russian: жирови́к (ru) m (žirovík)
• Tagalog: butlig

Etymology 2

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old English wynn

Noun

wen (plural wens)

1. a runic letter later replaced by w

Etymology 3

Eye dialect spelling of when.

Adverb

wen (not comparable)

1. (eye dialect) Alternative spelling of when

Conjunction

wen

1. (eye dialect) Alternative spelling of when

Pronoun

wen

1. (eye dialect) Alternative spelling of when

Noun

wen (uncountable)

1. (eye dialect) Alternative spelling of when

Anagrams

• New, new, new-

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Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch winnen, from Middle Dutch winnen, from Old Dutch winnan, from Proto-Germanic *winnaną, from Proto-Indo-European *wen- (“to strive, desire, wish, love”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vɛn/

Verb

wen (present wen, present participle wennende, past participle gewen)

1. to win

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʋɛn/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: wen
• Rhymes: -ɛn

Etymology 1

From Proto-Germanic *hwannē. Cognate with English when, German wann.

Adverb

wen

1. (archaic) when

   En ik dacht aan den geur harer bloesems, aan het huiveren harer takken, aan den zang harer vogelen; en ik vroeg mij: wen rieken wij die? (V. Someren, 1822)

   And I thought about the scent of her blossoms, at the shuddering of her branches, at the songs of her birds, and I asked myself: when do we smell these?

Conjunction

wen

1. (archaic) when

   Daar heb ik wen de vogels vlogen, heimelik in elk nest geschouwd! (L. De Mont, 1880)

   There have I, when the birds flew, looked privily in each nest!

Etymology 2

Verb

wen

1. (deprecated template usage) first-person singular present indicative of wennen
2. (deprecated template usage) imperative of wennen

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Elfdalian

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronoun

wen

1. what

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German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [veːn]
• Rhymes: -eːn

Pronoun

wen

1. (interrogative) accusative of wer: whom (direct object).

   Wen hast du gefragt?

   Whom did you ask?

Further reading

• “wen” in Duden online

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Gothic

Romanization

wēn

1. Romanization of 𐍅𐌴𐌽

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Japanese

Romanization

wen

1. Rōmaji transcription of ゑん

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Mandarin

Romanization

wen

1. Nonstandard spelling of wēn.
2. Nonstandard spelling of wén.
3. Nonstandard spelling of wěn.
4. Nonstandard spelling of wèn.

Usage notes

• Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

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Middle English

Noun

wen

1. Alternative form of wayn (“wagon”)

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Old English

Alternative forms

• ƿēn — wynn spelling

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *wēniz, from Proto-Indo-European *wen- (“love”). Cognate with Old Frisian wen, Old Saxon wan, Old High German wān (German Wahn (“delusion”)), Old Norse ván, Gothic 𐍅𐌴𐌽𐍃 (wēns).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /weːn/

Noun

wēn f

1. hope, belief
2. expectation, likelihood

Declension

Declension of wēn (strong ō-stem)

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	wēn	wēna, wēne
accusative	wēne	wēna, wēne
genitive	wēne	wēna
dative	wēne	wēnum

Descendants

• Middle English: wene, wen
  • English: ween
  • Scots: wen, wene

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Welsh

Adjective

wen

1. Soft mutation of gwen (“white (feminine)”).

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
gwen	wen	ngwen	unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.