Etymograph

English

wish

Wish comes from Middle English wisshen ‘to want, desire, long for’, from Old English wȳsċan ‘to wish’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wenh₁-1‘to wish’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wunskijaną1‘to wish’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wunskijan1‘to wish’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150wȳsċan1‘to wish’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wisshen1‘to want’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1590–1592wish1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English wish
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1590–1592, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew: “Farewell: yet for the loue I beare my sweet…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wenh₁-Wiktionary, English wish‘to wish’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wunskijanąWiktionary, English wish‘to wish’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wunskijanWiktionary, English wish‘to wish’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150wȳsċanWiktionary, English wish‘to wish’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wisshenWiktionary, English wish‘to want’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1590–1592wishWiktionary, English wish. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1590–1592, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew: “Farewell: yet for the loue I beare my sweet…”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with wish, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- ‘to wish, love’

  • won ← wonen ← wunian ← *wunēn ← *wunāną
  • wonder ← wundor ← *wundr ← *wundrą ← *wn̥h₁-tro-m
  • win ← winn ← winn ← *winną
  • wont ← ġewunod ← ġewunian ← wunian ← *wunēn
  • venom ← venym ← venim ← *venīmen ← venīnum
  • wen ← wynn ← *wunnju ← *wunjō ← *wénh₁-ih₂ ~ wn̥h₁-yéh₂-s
  • venerable ← venerabilis ← veneror ← venus ← *wénh₁-os ~ *wénh₁-es-os
  • wynn ← wynne ← *wunnju ← *wunjō ← *wn̥h₁yeh₂
  • wean ← wenen ← wenian ← *wannjan ← *wanjaną
  • ween ← wene ← wēn ← *wāni ← *wēniz
  • venereal ← venereus
  • venerate ← venerātus ← veneror ← venus ← *wénh₁-os ~ *wénh₁-es-os

19 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

noun A desire, hope, or longing for something or for something to happen.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “wish”. 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 *wenh₁- / wish