The story
- Proto-Indo-European · derived from*h₁weh₂-“to be lacking, be empty”
- Proto-Germanic · derived from*wanaz“lacking, missing, deficient”
- Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*wana-
- Old English · inherited fromwan-
- Middle English · inherited fromwan-
- English todaywan-
From Middle English wan-, from Old English wan-, from Proto-West Germanic *wana-, from Proto-Germanic *wanaz (“lacking, missing, deficient”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- (“to be lacking, be empty”).
Words from the same roots
Proto-Indo-European*h₁weh₂- all →
wantvarietywaneevanescentwanse
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.