wend

See also: Wend

English

Etymology

From Middle English wenden, from Old English wendan (“to turn, direct, wend one’s way, go, return, change, alter, vary, restore, happen, convert, translate”), from Proto-Germanic *wandijaną (“to turn”), causative of Proto-Germanic *windaną (“to wind”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Indo-European *wendʰ- (“to turn, wind, braid”). Cognate with Dutch wenden (“to turn”), German wenden (“to turn, reverse”), Danish vende (“to turn”), Norwegian Bokmål vende (“to turn”), Norwegian Nynorsk venda (“to turn”), Swedish vända (“to turn, turn over, veer, direct”), Icelandic venda (“to wend, turn, change”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (wandjan, “to cause to turn”). Related to wind (Etymology 2).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wɛnd/
• Rhymes: -ɛnd

Verb

wend (third-person singular simple present wends, present participle wending, simple past and past participle wended or (archaic) went)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To turn; change.
2. (transitive) To direct (one's way or course); pursue one's way; proceed upon some course or way.

   We wended our weary way westward.

   • Surrey

     Great voyages to wend.

3. (intransitive, obsolete) To turn; make a turn; go round; veer.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Sir Walter Raleigh to this entry?)

4. (intransitive, obsolete) To pass away; disappear; depart; vanish.

Usage notes

The modern past tense of wend is wended. Originally it was went, similarly to pairs such as send/sent, spend/spent, lend/lent, rend/rent, or blend/blent. However, went was co-opted as the past tense of go (replacing Early Modern English yede, Middle English yeed, Old English eode) and using it as the past tense of wend is now considered archaic.

Synonyms

• to betake oneself

Derived terms

• bewend
• wander
• wending

Related terms

• wind

Translations

To direct (one's way or course); pursue one's way; proceed upon some course or way

• German: folgen (de), verfolgen (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: направляться (ru) (napravljatʹsja)

Noun

wend (plural wends)

1. (obsolete, UK, law) A large extent of ground; a perambulation; a circuit.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Burrill to this entry?)

References

• “wend”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “wend”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

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Alemannic German

Alternative forms

• wénn, winn, wind

Etymology

From Old High German wint, from Proto-Germanic *windaz. Cognate with German Wind, Dutch wind, English wind, Icelandic vindur, Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌽𐌳𐍃 (winds).

Noun

wend m

1. (Rimella and Campello Monti) wind

References

• Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Luserna / Lusérn: Le nostre parole / Ünsarne börtar / Unsere Wörter [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ʋɛnt]

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

wend

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