wanted (English)
Where does "wanted" come from?
The word 'wanted' traces its roots back to the Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂-, meaning 'to be empty.' This concept evolved into the Old Norse 'vanta,' which meant to lack something, eventually entering Middle English as 'wanten.' Over time, the meaning shifted from the simple state of lacking to the active desire for something, and ultimately, to the legal usage for someone sought by authorities.
Full etymology tree
- wanted (English), 'Wished for; desired; sought.'
- derived want (English), 'To wish for or desire (something); to feel a need or desire for; to crave, hanker, or demand.'
- inherited wanten (Middle English), 'To lack; to not have:'
- learned borrowing vanta (Old Norse), 'to cause to lack [with accusative ‘something’] (idiomatically translated as "lack, be lacking" with the accusative object as the subject)'
- inherited *wanatōną (Proto-Germanic), 'to cause to lack'
- derived *wanô (Proto-Germanic), 'deficiency'
- derived *wanaz (Proto-Germanic), 'lacking, deficient, absent'
- inherited *h₁weh₂- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to be/become empty'
- derived *wanaz (Proto-Germanic), 'lacking, deficient, absent'
- derived *wanô (Proto-Germanic), 'deficiency'
- inherited *wanatōną (Proto-Germanic), 'to cause to lack'
- learned borrowing vanta (Old Norse), 'to cause to lack [with accusative ‘something’] (idiomatically translated as "lack, be lacking" with the accusative object as the subject)'
- inherited wanten (Middle English), 'To lack; to not have:'
- suffix -ed (English), 'Used to form past tenses of (regular) verbs. In linguistics, it is used for the base form of any past form. See -t for a variant.'
- derived want (English), 'To wish for or desire (something); to feel a need or desire for; to crave, hanker, or demand.'
Direct ancestors
Updated July 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris