whim

See also: WHIM

English

etymology 1, noun sense 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wɪm/
• (without the wine–whine merger) IPA^(key): /ʍɪm/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪm

Etymology 1

Clipping of whim-wham.

Noun

whim (countable and uncountable, plural whims)

1. A fanciful impulse, or sudden change of idea.

   Synonyms: lark; see also Thesaurus:whim

   • 1763, Charles Churchill, The Ghost, book IV, J. Coote, →OCLC, page 137:

     Let ev’ry Man enjoy his whim; / What’s He to Me, or I to him?

   • 1873, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], Kenelm Chillingly: His Adventures and Opinions […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC:

     “No, it is not for a wager; it is a whim of mine, which I fancy from the tone of your conversation you could understand, being apparently somewhat whimsical yourself.”
     “So far as whim goes, be assured of my sympathy.”

   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H. L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 269:

     The king was tired of this whim of hers long ago, and thought she ought to get married like other people; there was nothing she need wait for, she was old enough and she would not be any richer either, for she was to have half the kingdom, which she inherited after her mother.

   • 1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], →OCLC:

     […] the unholy stone whereon Tess had been compelled by Alec d’Urberville, in his whim of reformation, to swear the strange oath that she would never wilfully tempt him again.

   • 1904 September, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of the Abbey Grange”, in The Return of Sherlock Holmes, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., published February 1905, →OCLC:

     […] “I am sorry to make you the victim of what may seem a mere whim, but on my life, Watson, I simply can’t leave that case in this condition.

   • 2019 May 19, Alex McLevy, “The final Game Of Thrones brings a pensive but simple meditation about stories (newbies)”, in The A.V. Club‎^[1], archived from the original on 22 May 2019:

     “You’re either with me or you’re against me” became Dany’s credo, and those against her were an ever-changing multitude to be determined solely by her whims.

   • 2025 October 4, Van Badham, “In a world where techlords rule us by whim, Australia’s stance against deepfakes is reason to celebrate”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN:

     In an internet-dominated world where vain techlords rule us by whim, sovereign governments seem reduced to the role of rearguard guerrillas.

   • 2025 October 15, “News: Renewed commitment to Northern Powerhouse Rail”, in RAIL, number 1046, page 9:

     He also disagreed with the idea of cancelling projects "completely at the whim of an individual Prime Minister," citing Rishi Sunak's decision to cancel HS2 north of Handsacre Junction.

3. (mining) A large capstan or vertical drum turned by horse power or steam power, for raising ore or water, etc., from mines, or for other purposes.

Derived terms

• at the whim of
• on a whim
• whim gin
• whim shaft

Related terms

• whimsical
• whimsy

Translations

fanciful impulse

• Albanian: rrebe (sq)
• Arabic: نَزْوَة f (nazwa)
• Azerbaijani: şıltaq
• Belarusian: капры́з m (kaprýz), пры́мха f (prýmxa)
• Bikol:

  Central Bikol: kauragan (bcl)

• Bulgarian: прищя́вка (bg) f (prištjávka), капри́з (bg) m (kapríz)
• Catalan: antull (ca) m, capritx (ca) m, caprici (ca) m, dèria f, curolla (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 怪念頭 / 怪念头 (zh) (guàiniàntóu), 奇想 (zh) (qíxiǎng), 任性 (zh) (rènxìng), 奇想 (zh) (qíxiǎng), 心血來潮 / 心血来潮 (zh) (xīnxuèláicháo)

• Czech: rozmar (cs) m, vrtoch m
• Danish: indfald n, indskydelse c, grille (da) c
• Dutch: gril (nl) m or f
• Esperanto: kaprico (eo)
• Finnish: oikku (fi)
• French: lubie (fr) f, caprice (fr) m
• Galician: antollo (gl) m, reuto m, vértola f, peta f, gurrumío m, mecada f, celeima f, rautada f, oura f
• German: Laune (de) f, Grille (de) f, Marotte (de) f, Kaprize (de) f, Verrücktheit (de) f, wunderlicher Einfall m
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: σχεδίασμα n (skhedíasma)

• Hebrew: גַּחֲמָה (he) f (gakhamá)
• Hungarian: szeszély (hu)
• Icelandic: dyntur (is) m, duttlungur (is) m, kenjar f pl
• Italian: capriccio (it) m, ghiribizzo (it) m, fantasia (it) f, stravaganza (it) f, stranezza (it) f, griccio m, stramberia (it) f, grillo (it) m, uzzolo (it) m, sfizio (it) m, gnagnera f
• Japanese: 気紛れ (ja) (きまぐれ, kimagure), 移り気 (ja) (うつりぎ, utsurigi)
• Kalmyk: яр (yar)
• Korean: 변덕(變德) (ko) (byeondeok)
• Latin: arbitrium n
• Macedonian: хир m (hir)
• Māori: whakaaro ohia
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: innfall (no) n

• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: ویر (fa) (vir)

• Polish: kaprys (pl) m, widzimisię (pl) n
• Portuguese: inspiração (pt), capricho (pt)
• Romanian: capriciu (ro) n, toană (ro) f
• Russian: капри́з (ru) m (kapríz), при́хоть (ru) f (príxotʹ), блажь (ru) f (blažʹ), причу́да (ru) f (pričúda)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: хи̑р m

  Latin: hȋr (sh) m

• Slovak: vrtoch m, rozmar m
• Slovene: kaprica f
• Spanish: capricho (es) m, ventolera, antojo (es) m
• Swedish: nyck (sv) c, infall (sv) n
• Tajik: инҷиқӣ (injiqi), нозунуз (nozunuz)
• Turkish: kapris (tr), heves (tr)
• Ukrainian: капри́з (uk) m (kaprýz), при́мха (uk) f (prýmxa), забага́нка (uk) f (zabahánka), за́баг m (zábah)

large capstan

• German: Göpel (de) m

Verb

whim (third-person singular simple present whims, present participle whimming, simple past and past participle whimmed)

1. (rare, intransitive) To be seized with a whim; to be capricious.

Etymology 2

Compare whimbrel.

Noun

whim (plural whims)

1. A bird, the Eurasian wigeon.