wench

English

Etymology

From Middle English wenche (“girl; young maid”), a shortened form of Middle English wenchel (“girl; maiden; child”), from Old English wenċel, winċel (“child; servant; slave”), from Proto-Germanic *wankilą, from Proto-Germanic *wankijaną (“to sway; waver”). Akin to Old High German wenken (“to waver; yield; give way”), Old High German wankōn (“to totter”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wɛntʃ/
• Rhymes: -ɛntʃ

Noun

wench (plural wenches)

1. (archaic) A young woman, especially a servant.
   • W. Black

     He was received by the daughter of the house, a pretty, buxom, blue-eyed little wench.

2. (archaic) A promiscuous woman.
   • Spectator

     It is not a digression to talk of bawds in a discourse upon wenches.

3. (US, dated) A black woman; a negress.

Derived terms

• wenchdom
• wenchful
• wenchless
• wenchlike
• wenchhood
• wenchish
• wenchly
• wenchness
• wenchsome
• wenchy

Translations

a young woman

• Breton: merc'h (br) f
• Catalan: mossa f
• Dutch: meid (nl) f
• Esperanto: knabulino
• French: jeune fille (fr) f, fille (fr) f
• German: Magd (de) f, Mädchen (de) n, (regional) Mädel (de) n
• Hindi: औरत (hi) f (aurat) (neutral)
• Ido: damzelo (io)
• Irish: cailín (ga) m
• Italian: ragazza (it) f

• Macedonian: мо́ма f (móma), измеќарка f (izmeḱarka) (servant)
• Norwegian: jente (no) f, tøs (no) m, f
• Polish: dziewka (pl) f
• Portuguese: moça (pt) f
• Russian: де́вка (ru) f (dévka), деви́ца (ru) f (devíca), де́вушка (ru) f (dévuška)
• Scottish Gaelic: caile f
• Spanish: moza (es) f
• Swedish: jänta (sv) f, piga (sv) c
• Welsh: merch (cy) f

a promiscuous woman

• Hindi: औरत (hi) f (aurat)
• Norwegian: ludder (no) n, tøs (no) m, f
• Polish: dziwka (pl) f

• Russian: де́вка (ru) f (dévka), проститу́тка (ru) f (prostitútka)
• Swedish: slyna (sv) c, slampa (sv) c

Verb

wench (third-person singular simple present wenches, present participle wenching, simple past and past participle wenched)

1. (intransitive) To frequent prostitutes; to womanize.
   • 2011, Irregular Webcomic! [1]:

     Wining and wenching, baby!

Translations

To frequent prostitutes

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 嫖妓 (zh) (piáojì)

• German: huren (de)
• Russian: таскаться (ru) (taskatʹsja) по (ru) (po) бабам (ru) f (babam)

Adjective

wench (comparative wencher, superlative wenchest)

1. (slang) attractive, good-looking