Etymology

miswant

M3I1S1W4A1N1T1

Today it means: To want (something) even though it will probably lead to one's own harm or unhappiness (e.g. an addictive drug). Full definition →

English want ← Middle English mys- ← Old English mis-
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*mey-?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*meyth₂-
  3. Proto-Germanic*missaz
  4. Proto-Germanic*missa-
  5. Proto-West Germanic*missa-
  6. Old Englishmis-
  7. Middle Englishmys-
  8. Englishmis-
  9. Englishwant
  10. English todaymiswant

From mis- + want.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.