Etymology

wain

W4A1I1N1

Today it means: A wagon; a four-wheeled cart for hauling loads, usually pulled by horses or oxen. Full definition →

Middle English wayn ← Old English wæġn ← Proto-West Germanic *wagn
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wain · noun, verb1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · inherited from*woǵʰnos
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*wagnaz
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*wagn
  4. Old English · inherited fromwæġn
  5. Middle English · inherited fromwayn
  6. English todaywain

From Middle English wayn, from Old English wæġn, from Proto-West Germanic *wagn, from Proto-Germanic *wagnaz, from Proto-Indo-European *woǵʰnos, from *weǵʰ- (“to bring, transport”). Doublet of wagon, borrowed from Middle Dutch. Cognates Cognate with West Frisian wein, Dutch wagen, German Wagen, Danish vogn, Norwegian vogn, Swedish vagn.

wain · noun2

From wee one.

Words from the same roots

Middle Englishwayn all →

wainman

Old Englishwæġn all →

Wainfleet

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.