Etymograph

English

wideness

Wideness comes from Old English wīdnes ‘width, wideness’, from wīd ‘wide’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *wīdaz.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wīdaz1‘wide’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150wīd2‘wide’
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150wīdnes3‘width, wideness’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wydnesse3
  5. Englishtodaywideness3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Old English wid
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Old English widnes
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English wideness

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wīdazWiktionary, Old English wid‘wide’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150wīdWiktionary, Old English widnes‘wide’
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150wīdnesWiktionary, English wideness‘width, wideness’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wydnesseWiktionary, English wideness
  5. EnglishtodaywidenessWiktionary, English wideness

Formed from wide + -ness

Proto-Indo-European *h₁weydʰh₁- ‘to divide’

Proto-Germanic *wīdaz

Old English wīd ‘wide’

Middle English wid

English wide

Linked words

through Old English wīd ‘wide’

worldwide, 3 more

Today it means

noun The state or quality of being wide.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “wideness”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Old English wid, Old English widnes. 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-Germanic *wīdaz / wideness

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