Etymology

wench

W4E1N1C3H4

Today it means: A girl or young woman, especially a buxom or lively one. Full definition →

Middle English wench ← Old English wenċel ← Proto-Germanic *wankilą
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*wankijaną“to sway; waver”
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*wankilą
  3. Old English · inherited fromwenċel
  4. Middle English · inherited fromwenchel“girl; maiden; child”
  5. Middle English · inherited fromwench
  6. English todaywench

The noun is derived from Middle English wench, wenche (“female baby; girl (especially unmarried); maiden, young woman; bondwoman; serving maid; beloved, sweetheart; concubine, mistress; harlot, prostitute”) [and other forms], a shortened form of Middle English wenchel (“girl; maiden; child”), from Old English wenċel, winċel (“child; servant; slave”), from Proto-Germanic *wankilą, from Proto-Germanic *wankijaną (“to sway; waver”). The English word is cognate with Old High German wenken (“to waver; to give way, yield”), wankōn (“to totter”). The verb is derived from the noun.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.