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wite

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wite¹

  • /waɪt/

Sounds like wight, white (wine–whine merger) · Rhymes with -aɪt

Where it comes from

From Middle English wīten (“to accuse, reproach, punish, suspect”), Old English wītan (“to look, behold, see, guard, keep, impute or ascribe to, accuse, reproach, blame”), from Proto-West Germanic *wītan, from Proto-Germanic *wītaną. Connected to Old English wīte, see below.

verb wites · witing · wited · wyte

  1. To regard (someone) as guilty; to accuse; to blame; to fault. [H]e gan fovvly vvyte / His vvicked fortune, that had turnd aſlope, / And curſed night, that reſt from him ſo goodly ſcope.
  2. To censure (someone); to mulct; to reproach. [U]niuſtly thou doeſt vvyte them all, / For that vvhich thou miſlikedſt in a fevv.
  3. To guard (something); to keep; to observe, preserve, or protect.

wite²

  • /waɪt/

Sounds like wight, white (wine–whine merger) · Rhymes with -aɪt

Where it comes from

From Middle English wite (“guilt, blameworthiness, blame, wrongdoing, misdeed, offense, punishment, retribution, fine, bote, customary rent”), from Old English wīte (“punishment, pain, torment”), from Proto-West Germanic *wītī, from Proto-Germanic *wītiją, from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see, find, behold”).

noun wites

  1. Blame; responsibility; guilt. Nor I will not suffer mine indignation so to witwanton with fair justice as persuade me to put the wite on Witchland.
  2. Punishment; penalty; fine; bote; mulct.

wite³

  • /waɪt/

Sounds like wight, white (wine–whine merger) · Rhymes with -aɪt

Where it comes from

From Middle English witen, from Old English wītan (“to see, accuse, go, depart”), from Proto-West Germanic *wītan, from Proto-Germanic *wītaną, from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see, find, behold”).

verb wites · witing · wited

  1. poetic To go; go away; depart; perish; vanish.

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Cite this
MLA

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

APA

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

Chicago

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

BibTeX
@misc{wite_2026,
  title = {wite},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/wite},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}