English
waste
Waste comes from Middle English wast, from Old Northern French wast, from Frankish *wōstī ‘a waste’, from Proto-Germanic *wōstaz, from PIE *h₁weh₂- ‘empty’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁weh₂-1‘empty’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wōstaz1reconstructed
- Frankishc. 250–700*wōstī1‘a waste’reconstructed
- Old Northern Frenchc. 842–1400wast1
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wast1
- Englishearliest quotation 1886waste1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English waste
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1886, – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson: “We went down accordingly into the waste, and began…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁weh₂-Wiktionary, English waste‘empty’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wōstazWiktionary, English wastereconstructed
- Frankishc. 250–700*wōstīWiktionary, English waste‘a waste’reconstructed
- Old Northern Frenchc. 842–1400wastWiktionary, English waste
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wastWiktionary, English waste
- Englishearliest quotation 1886wasteWiktionary, English waste. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1886, – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson: “We went down accordingly into the waste, and began…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- ‘empty, wasted’
want, various, variety, vacation, vary, variable, void, vast, vacant, vain, vanity, vanish, evacuate, vacate, waning, vacuous, wane, varicella, evanescent, 26 more
through Middle English wast
Another origin of waste
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁weh₂-‘empty, wasted’reconstructed
- Frankishc. 250–700*wōstī‘waste, empty’reconstructed
- Old Northern Frenchc. 842–1400wast
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wast
- Englishtodaywaste
Another origin of waste
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wāsto-‘empty, wasted’uncertain
- Frankishc. 250–700*wōstijan‘to waste’uncertain
- Old Northern Frenchc. 842–1400waster‘to waste, devastate’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wasten‘to waste, lay waste’
- Englishtodaywaste
From Middle English wasten (‘to waste, lay waste’), from Anglo-Norman, Old Northern French waster (‘to waste, devastate’) (compare also the variant gaster and French gâter from a related Old French word); the Anglo-Norman form waster was either from Frankish *wōstijan (‘to waste’), from Proto-Indo-European *wāsto- (‘empty, wasted’), or alternatively from Latin vastāre and influenced by the Frankish; the English word was assisted by similarity to native Middle English westen ("to waste"; > English weest).disputed Scholars disagree here; the competing view is quoted as the source gives it.
Today it means
noun Excess of material, useless by-products, or damaged, unsaleable products; garbage; rubbish.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “waste”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- / waste