Etymograph

English

want

Want comes from Old Norse vanta ‘to lack’, from Proto-Germanic *wanatōną ‘to be wanting, lack’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- ‘empty’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁weh₂-‘empty; to leave, abandon’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wanaz‘lacking, deficient’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wanô‘lack, deficiency’reconstructed
  4. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wanatōną‘to be wanting, lack’reconstructed
  5. Old Norsec. 800–1350vanta‘to lack’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wanten‘to lack, to need’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1591want

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁weh₂-‘empty; to leave, abandon’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wanaz‘lacking, deficient’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wanô‘lack, deficiency’reconstructed
  4. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wanatōną‘to be wanting, lack’reconstructed
  5. Old Norsec. 800–1350vanta‘to lack’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wanten‘to lack, to need’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1591want

Earliest quotation: 1591, William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]: “[H]eavens and honour be witness, that no want of…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- ‘empty’

various, variety, vast, waste, vacation, vary, variable, void, vain, evacuate, vanity, vacant, vacate, vanish, vacuous, waning, varicella, evanescent, 26 more

through Proto-Germanic *wanô ‘lack, deficiency’

wane

through Middle English wanten ‘to lack, to need’

wont, 1 more

Another origin of want

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wanduzreconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wandreconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150wand‘mole (animal)’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wont‘mole’
  5. Englishtodaywant

Today it means

verb To wish for or desire (something); to feel a need or desire for; to crave, hanker, or demand.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- / want

Shirt and support for this word