wist

See also: -wist

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɪst

Etymology 1

Past indicative of wit: from Old English witan, from Proto-Germanic *witaną, from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“see, know”). Cognate with Dutch weten, German wissen, Swedish veta, and Latin videō (“I see”). Compare guide.

Verb

wist

1. (archaic) simple past tense and past participle of wit
   • a1796, Robert Burns, "Bonie Jean: A Ballad", in Poems and Songs, P.F. Collier & Son (1909–14), Bartleby.com (2001), [1],

     And lang ere witless Jeanie wist, / Her heart was tint, her peace was stown!

   • 1837 Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution: A History

     Did the maledicent Bodyguard, getting (as was too inevitable) better malediction than he gave, load his musketoon, and threaten to fire; and actually fire? Were wise who wist!

Etymology 2

A misunderstanding, or a joking use of the past indicative of wit: from Old English witan, from Proto-Germanic *witaną, from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“see, know”). Cognate with Dutch weten, German wissen, Swedish veta, and Latin videō (“I see”). Compare guide.

Verb

wist (third-person singular simple present wists, present participle wisting, simple past and past participle wisted)

1. (nonstandard, pseudo-archaic) To know, be aware of.

Usage notes

• This use of wist was never a part of the regular English language; rather, it resulted from the erroneous attempted use of archaisms.

Anagrams

• WITs, WSIT, wits

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɪst

• audio

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Verb

wist

1. singular past indicative of weten
2. second- and third-person singular present indicative of wissen
3. (archaic) plural imperative of wissen

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Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *wistiz (“essence”), a derivative of Old English wesan (“to exist, be”). Cognate with Old Saxon wist, Old High German wist, Old Norse vist, Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐍃𐍄𐍃 (wists).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wist/

Noun

wist f

1. being, existence; well-being
2. abundance, plenty; provisions, food
3. feast; meal; delicacy

Declension

Declension of wist (strong i-stem)

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	wist	wiste, wista
accusative	wist, wiste	wiste, wista
genitive	wiste	wista
dative	wiste	wistum

Derived terms

• midwist

Descendants

• Middle English: wiste, wyste