wald

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wald¹

  • /wɔːld/

Rhymes with -ɔːld

Where it comes from

From Northern Middle English walde, from Old English wealdan (“to rule, control, determine, direct, command, govern, possess, wield, exercise, cause, bring about”), from Proto-West Germanic *waldan, from Proto-Germanic *waldaną (“to reign”), from Proto-Indo-European *waldʰ- (“to be strong, be powerful, prevail, possess”).

Cognates

Cognate with German walten (“to prevail, reign, dominate”), Danish volde (“to cause”), Icelandic valda (“to cause”), Lithuanian valda (“land property”), Lithuanian valdyti (“to rule”).

verb walds · walding · walded · wauld

  1. UK, ambitransitive, dialectal To govern; inherit.

wald²

  • /wɔːld/

Rhymes with -ɔːld

Where it comes from

From Northern Middle English wald, from Old English weald (“power, authority”), from Proto-Germanic *waldą (“power”), from Proto-Indo-European *waldʰ- (“to be strong, be powerful, prevail, possess”). Cognate with German Gewalt (“force, power, control, violence”), Swedish våld (“force, violence”).

noun walds · wauld

  1. UK, countable, dialectal, uncountable Power; strength.
  2. UK, countable, dialectal, uncountable Command; control; possession.

wald³

  • /wɔːld/

Rhymes with -ɔːld

Where it comes from

From Northern Middle English wald, from Old English wald, weald, from Proto-West Germanic *walþu, from Proto-Germanic *walþuz (“forest”), possibly from a Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“to perceive, see”) or *welH- (“to roll, undulate”). Largely displaced by forest.

Cognates

Compare North Frisian wald, walt (“forest”), Saterland Frisian Woold (“forest”), West Frisian wâld (“forest”), Alemannic German and German Wald (“forest, woods”), Bavarian Woid (“forest, woods”), Cimbrian balt (“forest, woods”), Dutch woud (“forest, woods”), Low German Woold, Woolt (“forest”), Luxembourgish Wal (“forest”), Mòcheno bòlt (“wood, woodland”), Yiddish וואַלד (vald, “forest”), Danish val (“plain”), vold (“field, meadow”), Faroese vøllur (“lawn; field”), Icelandic völlur (“lawn; field”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk voll (“meadow”), Swedish vall (“field, pasture”); also Hittite 𒌑𒂊𒂖𒇻𒍑 (ú-e-el-lu-uš, “meadow, pasture”). See also weald, wold, ultimately of the same origin.

noun walds · wauld

  1. Forest; woods. … we still recognize the ancient traditions of the Goths, concerning the wald-elven,…

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MLA

"wald." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/wald. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

wald. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/wald

Chicago

"wald." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/wald.

BibTeX
@misc{wald_2026,
  title = {wald},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/wald},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}