wish (English)

Where does "wish" come from?

The English noun and verb descend through Middle English 'wisshen'[1][5] from Old English 'wȳsċan'[1][2][5], meaning to wish. This Old English term traces back to Proto-West Germanic '*wunskijan'[1][2][4][5] and Proto-Germanic '*wunskijaną'[1][2][3][4][5], which derive ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root '*wenh₁-' meaning to wish or to love[1][6]. This ancient root also yielded Latin 'Venus' and English 'wonder'[1].

Open questions

The Proto-Germanic verb forms are reconstructed from nominal formations and suffixes rather than direct attestation. [3] [6]

Full etymology tree

wish (English), 'A desire, hope, or longing for something or for something to happen.'
- inherited wisshen (Middle English), 'To want, desire, long for.'
  - inherited wyscan (Old English), 'to wish (+genitive for something)'
    - inherited *wunskijan (Proto-West Germanic), 'to wish, desire'
      - inherited *wunskijaną (Proto-Germanic), 'to wish, to desire'
        inherited *wenh₁- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to love'

Ancestors

wisshen (Middle English)
wyscan (Old English)
*wunskijan (Proto-West Germanic)
*wunskijaną (Proto-Germanic)
*wenh₁- (Proto-Indo-European)

Cognates and doublets

wensen (Dutch)
wonder (English)
ynskja (Faroese)
wünschen (German)
æskja (Icelandic)
Venus (Latin)
wënschen (Luxembourgish)
ønske (Norwegian Bokmål)
ønskja (Norwegian Nynorsk)
wonskje (Saterland Frisian)
wis (Scots)
önska (Swedish)

Descendants and derived words

best wishes (English)
death wish (English)
fish one's wish (English)
if wishes were horses, beggars would ride (English)
wish away (English)
wishbone (English)
wishbone (English)
wish-cycling (English)
wishful (English)
wish list (English)
wishlist (English)
wishlist (English)

Sources

Updated September 2026

More words starting with W

Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris