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wold

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wold¹

  • /wəʊld/ UK
  • [wɒʊɫd] UK
  • /wɒld/ UK
  • /wəwld/ British, Southern, Standard
  • [wɔwɫd] British, Southern, Standard
  • /wɔld/ British, Southern, Standard
  • /woʊld/ Canada, US
  • /wəʉld/ Australia
  • [wɔʉɫd] Australia
  • /wɔld/ Australia
  • /waʉld/ New Zealand
  • [wɔʉɫd] New Zealand
  • /wɔld/ New Zealand
  • /wold/ Scotland
  • /would/ Wales

Rhymes with -əʊld

Where it comes from

From Middle English wald, walde, weld, welde, wold, wolde, woolde, wæld, 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 wald, weald, ultimately of the same origin.

noun wolds

  1. archaic, regional An unforested or deforested plain, a grassland, a moor. Saint Withold footed thrice the ’old; He met the nightmare, and her nine fold;
  2. obsolete A wood or forest, especially a wooded upland.

wold²

  • /wəʊld/ UK

Where it comes from

Inherited from Middle English wolde.

adjective wolder · woldest

  1. Devon, West Country, archaic, dialectal Old. "[A] girt wind had a-blowed the wold tree auver, so that his head were in the water."

Wold³

Where it comes from

* As a Norwegian surname, spelling variant of Vold, Voll.

* As an English surname, from wold (“forest”).

proper noun Wolds

  1. A surname.

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Cite this
MLA

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

APA

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

Chicago

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

BibTeX
@misc{wold_2026,
  title = {wold},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/wold},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}