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wend

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wend¹

  • /wɛnd/ US, UK
  • /wɪ̟nd/ pin pen merger

Sounds like wind (pin-pen merger), when'd · Rhymes with -ɛnd

Where it comes from

From Middle English wenden, from Old English wendan (“to turn, change, translate”), from Proto-West Germanic *wandijan, from Proto-Germanic *wandijaną (“to turn”), causative of *windaną (“to wind”), from Proto-Indo-European *wendʰ- (“to turn, wind, braid”).

Cognate with Dutch wenden (“to turn”), German wenden (“to turn, reverse”), Danish vende (“to turn”), Norwegian Bokmål vende (“to turn”), Norwegian Nynorsk venda (“to turn”), Swedish vända (“to turn, turn over, veer, direct”), Icelandic venda (“to wend, turn, change”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (wandjan, “to cause to turn”). Related to wind (Etymology 2).

verb wends · wending · wended · went

  1. transitive To direct (one's way or course); pursue one's way; proceed upon some course or way. We wended our weary way westward.
  2. obsolete, transitive To turn; change, to adapt.
  3. intransitive, obsolete To turn; make a turn; go round; veer. with the prowe at both ends, so as they need not to wend or hold water
  4. intransitive, obsolete To pass away; disappear; depart; vanish.

Similar: to betake oneself

noun wends

  1. UK, obsolete A large extent of ground; a perambulation; a circuit.

Wend²

Where it comes from

From German Wende, from Proto-Germanic *Winidaz, the same source as Old English Winedas (“Slavs”).

noun Wends

  1. A member of a Slavic people from the borders of Germany and Poland; a Sorb; a Kashub.
  2. A Slavic person living anywhere in the vicinity of German-speaking areas.

Thesaurus

verb

Similar: to betake oneself

Translations

Every language

verb to direct (one's way or course); pursue one's way; proceed upon some course or way

Deutschfolgen, verfolgen
Русскийнаправляться napravljatʹsja

noun member of a Slavic people from the borders of Germany and Poland

Españolvendo
Portuguêsvendo
FrançaisWende
DeutschWende, Wendin
Italianovenedo, vendo
Русскийвенд vend, винд vind, вене́д venéd

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MLA

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

APA

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

Chicago

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

BibTeX
@misc{wend_2026,
  title = {wend},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/wend},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}