wanted (English)
Where does "wanted" come from?
The English adjective 'wanted' is formed by adding the suffix '-ed' to the verb 'want'[1]. The verb 'want' descends from the Middle English 'wanten', which meant 'to lack' or 'to need'[2][5]. This term was borrowed from the Old Norse 'vanta', tracing back to the Proto-Germanic root '*wanatōną' and the earlier form '*wanô', meaning 'lack' or 'deficiency'[2][6][7]. Ultimately, these forms derive from the Proto-Indo-European '*h₁weh₂-', meaning 'empty'[2]. Through this long evolution, the meaning shifted from a simple state of deficiency to the sense of something being 'wished for' or 'desired', and eventually to the legal status of being 'subject to immediate detainment'[1].
Open questions
- The Proto-Indo-European root '*h₁weh₂-' is a reconstructed form rather than an attested word. [2]
- The transition from the sense of lacking to the sense of desiring remains a complex development in usage. [1] [2]
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:'
- borrowed vanta (Old Norse), 'to cause to lack [with accusative ‘something’] (idiomatically translated as "lack, be lacking" with the accusative object as the subject)'
- derived *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'
- derived *wanatōną (Proto-Germanic), 'to cause to lack'
- borrowed 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.'
Ancestors
- want (English)
- ed (English)
Descendants and derived words
- beckons wanted (English)
- bid wanted (English)
- help wanted (English)
- most wanted (English)
- not wanted on voyage (English)
- offer wanted (English)
- wanted cargo (English)
- wanted list (English)
- wanted notice (English)
- wanted poster (English)
Sources
- wanted (English) - Wiktionary
- want (English) - Wiktionary
- ed (English) - Wiktionary
- vanta (Old Norse) - Wiktionary
- wanten (Middle English) - Wiktionary
- wanatōną (Proto-Germanic) - Wiktionary
- wanô (Proto-Germanic) - Wiktionary
Updated August 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris