wend

English

Etymology

From Middle English wenden, from Old English wendan (“to turn, change, translate”), from Proto-West Germanic *wandijan, from Proto-Germanic *wandijaną (“to turn”), causative of *windaną (“to wind”), from Proto-Indo-European *wendʰ- (“to turn, wind, braid”).

Cognate with Dutch wenden (“to turn”), German wenden (“to turn, reverse”), Danish vende (“to turn”), Norwegian Bokmål vende (“to turn”), Norwegian Nynorsk venda (“to turn”), Swedish vända (“to turn, turn over, veer, direct”), Icelandic venda (“to wend, turn, change”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (wandjan, “to cause to turn”). Related to wind (Etymology 2).

Pronunciation

• (UK, General American) IPA^(key): /wɛnd/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛnd

Verb

wend (third-person singular simple present wends, present participle wending, simple past and past participle wended or (archaic) went)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To turn; change, to adapt.
2. (transitive) To direct (one's way or course); pursue one's way; proceed upon some course or way.

   We wended our weary way westward.

   • 1557 July 1, Virgil, “The Fowrth Boke of Virgiles Aenæis”, in Henry [Howard, Earl] of Surrey, transl., edited by William Bolland, Certain Bokes of Virgiles Aenaeis, Turned into English Meter ([Roxburghe Club Publications; I]), London: A J Valpy, , published 1814, →OCLC:

     And ſtill her thought that ſhe was left alone / Uncompanied great viages to wende.

   • 1837, Thomas Carlyle, “Realised Ideals”, in The French Revolution: A History:

     The Merovingian Kings, slowly wending on their bullock-carts through the streets of Paris, with their long hair flowing, have all wended slowly on,—into Eternity.

   • 2021 October 1, Robin Craig, “In term-opener, justices will hear Mississippi’s complaint that Tennessee is stealing its groundwater”, in SCOTUSblog:

     Like most original jurisdiction water cases, Mississippi v. Tennessee has taken a few years to wend its way to Supreme Court oral argument, and that argument will be keyed to the parties’ objections to the report of a court-appointed special master.

   • 2022 April 7, Andy Greenberg, “Inside the Bitcoin Bust That Took Down the Web’s Biggest Child Abuse Site”, in WIRED‎:

     This evidentiary lead had then wended its way from the NCA’s child exploitation investigations team to the computer crime team

3. (intransitive, obsolete) To turn; make a turn; go round; veer.
   • c. 1611, Walter Raleigh, A Discourse on the Invention of Ships &c.:

     with the prowe at both ends, so as they need not to wend or hold water

4. (intransitive, obsolete) To pass away; disappear; depart; vanish.

Usage notes

The modern past tense of wend is wended. Originally it was went, similarly to pairs such as send/sent, spend/spent, lend/lent, rend/rent, or blend/blent. However, went was co-opted as the past tense of go (replacing Early Modern English and Middle English yede, Old English eode) and using it as the past tense of wend is now considered archaic.

The modern usage of wend is almost always accompanied by way.

Synonyms

• to betake oneself

Derived terms

Related terms

• wind

Translations

Noun

wend (plural wends)

1. (obsolete, UK, law) A large extent of ground; a perambulation; a circuit

References

Further reading

• “wend”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “wend”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Alemannic German

Alternative forms

• wénn, winn, wind

Etymology

From Middle High German wint, from Old High German wint.

Cognate with German Wind, Dutch wind, English wind, Icelandic vindur, Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌽𐌳𐍃 (winds).

Noun

wend m

1. (Rimella and Campello Monti) wind

References

• Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Luserna / Lusérn: Le nostre parole / Ünsarne börtar / Unsere Wörter , Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛnt

Verb

wend

1. inflection of wenden:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. imperative

German

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

wend

1. singular imperative of wenden

Middle English

Noun

wend

1. Alternative form of wynd