wight
English
/waɪt/
noun
Definitions
- (archaic) A living creature, especially a human being.
- (paganism) A being of one of the Nine Worlds of Heathen belief, especially a nature spirit, elf or ancestor.
- (poetic) A ghost, deity or other supernatural entity.
- (fantasy) A wraith-like creature.
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English wight inherited from Old English wiht (person, being, creature, whit, thing, something, anything, wight, human being, weight) inherited from Proto-Germanic *wihtiz (essence, object, thing) inherited from Proto-Indo-European *wekti- (cause, thing, sake).
Origin
Proto-Indo-European
*wekti-
Gloss
cause, thing, sake
Concept
Semantic Field
Cognition
Ontological Category
Person/Thing
Kanji
酎
Emoji
Timeline
Distribution of cognates by language
Geogrpahic distribution of cognates
Cognates and derived terms
- godwit English
- good English
- wightly English
- Bösewicht German
- Wicht German
- Wichtel German
- booswicht Dutch, Flemish
- evenwicht Dutch, Flemish
- tegenwicht Dutch, Flemish
- wicht Dutch, Flemish
- zwaarwichtig Dutch, Flemish
- *wekti- Proto-Indo-European
- *weǵʰ- Proto-Indo-European
- *wihtiz Proto-Germanic
- *wihtą Proto-Germanic
- *gōdwiht Old English
- awiht Old English
- efenwiht Old English
- wiht Old English
- weight Middle English
- wight Middle English
- wiȝt Middle English
- véttr Old Norse
- vítr Old Norse
- vætte Danish
- gewichte Middle Dutch
- wicht Middle Dutch
- iowiht Old High German
- wiht Old High German
- wicht Middle High German
- 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐌷𐍄𐍃 Gothic
- wicht Middle Low German
- wiht Old Saxon
- wæt Old Danish