winsome
English
Etymology
From Middle English winsǒm, winsome, winsum, wunsum (“fair, pleasing to the senses; agreeable, gracious, pleasant; generous; of situations: favourable, propitious”), from Old English wynsum (“joyful, merry, pleasant; winsome”),[1] from Proto-Germanic *wunisamaz, *wunjōsamaz (“joyful”), from *wunjō (“delight, desire, joy”), from Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- (“to love; to wish”), equivalent to winne (“(obsolete) delight, joy, pleasure”) + -some. The word is cognate with Middle High German wunnesam (“delightful, joyful; winsome”) (modern German Wonne (“bliss, delight, joy”)), Old English wynn (“delight, joy, pleasure, rapture”), Scots winsome, wunsome (“charming, comely, pleasing”). See also winne, winly.
Pronunciation
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Audio (AU): (file) - Hyphenation: win‧some
Adjective
winsome (comparative winsomer, superlative winsomest)
- Charming, engaging, winning; inspiring approval and trust, especially if in an innocent manner.
- The doctor’s bedside manner was especially winsome.
- 1851 October, Jonathan Freke Slingsby [pseudonym; John Francis Waller], “Slingsby in Scotland. Part II.—Conclusion.”, in The Dublin University Magazine, a Literary and Political Journal, volume XXXVIII, number CCXXVI, Dublin: James McGlashan, 50 Upper Sackville-St.; London: W[illia]m S[omerville] Orr, →OCLC, stanza I, page 494:
- Will ye keep your troth to me, / Winsome Annie Ramsay? / Will ye keep your troth to me, / Winsome Annie Ramsay? / Will ye keep your troth to me? / My ain true luve will ye be? / Then meet me at the trysting tree, / Winsome Annie Ramsay.
- 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 13, Nausicaa]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 333:
- Gerty MacDowell who was seated near her companions, lost in thought, gazing far away into the distance was in very truth as fair a specimen of winsome Irish girlhood as one could wish to see.
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Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
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References
- ^ “winsǒm, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 19 March 2018.
Further reading
- winsome (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
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