Word origins

• Uranium ClubA German project during World War II to research nuclear technology, including nuclear weapons and nuclear reactors.
• ursodeoxycholic acidA bile acid, C₂₄H₄₀O₄, present in human bile at low concentrations and used as a medication for the treatment of various biliary and liver diseases.
• useless eaterIn the ideology of Nazi Germany, a person with a serious medical problem or disability, seen as requiring assistance from society but offering nothing in return.
• use valueThe ability of an object (not necessarily a commodity) to satisfy a human need; a utility.
• victor's justiceUnfair judgement in which an entity gives preferential treatment to its own forces over those of a defeated enemy.
• Vienna sausageA kind of smoked link sausage.
• Viennese sausageSynonym of Vienna sausage.
• wall-peckerA person who participated in bringing down the Berlin Wall in November 1989.
• Walpurgis nightWalpurgisnacht ("Walpurga's night"), a feast of witchcraft in German folklore, observed on 30 April.
• wanderstarA wandering star or other similar heavenly body; a comet; meteor; planet.
• wanderwordSynonym of Wanderwort (“a loanword that has spread to many different languages, often through trade or the adoption of foreign cultural practices”).
• water bearA member of the animal phylum Tardigrada.
• wave modelA model of language change in which an innovation gradually spreads outward from its region of origin.
• wave theorySynonym of wave model (“a model of language change in which an innovation gradually spreads outward from its region of origin”).
• weak verbOne of a class of verbs which use a dental suffix appended to the stem to indicate the past tense.
• Weimar RepublicThe democratic regime of Germany from 1919 to 1933, when it was abolished by the Nazis.
• West Central GermanOne of two major subgroups of the Central German dialects; spoken primarily in the German states of Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, and North Rhine-Westphalia, as well as Luxembourg, easternmost Belgium, and southeasternmost Limburg (Netherlands); characterized by the preservation of pre-Old High German initial *p-.
• westworkThe vaulted monumental structure at the western end of a church constructed in some medieval styles, flanked by two towers and containing the entrance.
• wet behind the earsInexperienced; just beginning; immature (especially in judgment).
• what givesWhat is wrong? Why is this happening?
• whole noteA semibreve, a musical note four beats long in 4/4 time.
• Wild HuntA spectral hunting party of riders and hounds, often led by a supernatural huntsman, that sweeps noisily through the sky or countryside at night or during storms, especially in winter; traditionally lacking a visible quarry and regarded as an omen of death or disaster.
• wild womanA type of female sprite, strikingly beautiful, with long, flowing hair, that live under hills and mounds.
• will to powerThe vital energy in all living things which propels them to seek to grow, create, and thrive.
• wish fulfilmentThe imagined satisfying of a wish or desire, especially one which was unconscious or not recognised by the holder; the expression of such fulfilment in a dream, fantasy etc.
• withering away of the stateThe proposed situation where, in a classless society, people govern themselves as a commune without needing a government or law enforcement.
• wolf childA German street child, typically an orphan, who lived in East Prussia at the end of World War II.
• wonderweaponA remarkably powerful weapon.
• workers of the world, uniteLaborers are encouraged to unionize or otherwise engage in collective action on a global scale in order to use the strength of their numbers to obtain better working conditions.
• x-rayA ray of short-wavelength electromagnetic radiation usually produced by bombarding a metal target in a vacuum. Used to create images of the internal structure of objects; this is possible because X-rays pass through most objects and can expose photographic film.
• yearhundredCentury (a hundred-year timespan).
• you are what you eatPersonal health and wellbeing is determined by one's eating habits, in both positive and negative ways.
• zero-gradeIn Proto-Indo-European linguistics, an ablaut form of a root characterized by the absence of the basic ablauting vowel phonemes */e/ and */o/.
• zero-point energyThe lowest possible energy of a given quantum mechanical system.
• Zipser GermanSynonym of Zipser.