Etymograph

English

wither

Wither comes from Middle English widren.

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500widren1
  2. Englishearliest quotation c. 1590–1592wither1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English wither
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1590–1592, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew: “This is man, old, wrinkled, faded, withered.”.

Lineage

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500widrenWiktionary, English wither
  2. Englishearliest quotation c. 1590–1592witherWiktionary, English wither. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1590–1592, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew: “This is man, old, wrinkled, faded, withered.”

The story

From Middle English widren, wydderen (‘to dry up, shrivel’), related to or perhaps an alteration of Middle English wederen (‘to expose to weather’), from Old English wederian (‘to expose to weather, exhibit a change of weather’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Every English word from Middle English widren

Another origin of wither

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dwi-‘apart, asunder’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wí‘apart’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wíteromreconstructedadverbial accusative of *wí
  4. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wiþrą‘toward, against’reconstructed
  5. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wiþr‘toward, against’reconstructed
  6. Old Englishc. 450–1150wiþer‘toward, against’
  7. Old Englishc. 450–1150wiþerian‘to resist, oppose, struggle against’
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500witheren
  9. Englishtodaywither

Today it means

verb To shrivel, droop or dry up, especially from lack of water.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “wither”. 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 / Middle English widren / wither

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