wan

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English wan (also won, wane),^[2][3] inherited from Old English wann (“dark, dusky, livid”) (also wonn).^[4][5][6] Köbler reconstructs Proto-Germanic *wannaz, with a possible reflex in Old Frisian, and Heidermanns finds the adjective only in English and Frisian;^[7][8] the OED says it is not found in the other Germanic languages.^[4] Its further origin is unknown.^[9][10][2] According to Etymonline, Boutkan related it to Old English wanian (“to diminish, fade”), the source of wane, the connecting idea being a lack of vivid colour;^[5] Klein and Weekley compare wan (“lacking, deficient”) and want.^[11][12] Holthausen asked whether it belongs with Old Irish fann and Welsh gwan (“weak”), and the OED finds a link with these Celtic words and with the verb to wane possible, but sees difficulties in connecting it with win or wound.^[13][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lacking light or lustre; dark, dusky, gloomy: Old English, in Beowulf, where it is also used of the sea.^[4][6] Barnhart dates Beowulf to about 725.^[2] Bosworth-Toller adds the senses blue-black or livid, swarthy, and dark as a poetic epithet of shade, cloud, night, water and fire.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Old English also used the word for an unhealthy leaden colour, especially of wounds, bruised faces and corpses, a sense obsolete by 1655.^[4] Etymonline explains the shift to "pale" through this want of vivid colour: anything greyish or gloomy-looking could be called wan, including bruises.^[5] The sense "pallid, unhealthily pale" is found from a1300 in Cursor Mundi (about 1300 according to Etymonline), and the pair pale and wan from Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde (c. 1374).^[4][5] Etymonline dates its use of the moon and stars to the mid-14th century, the OED to 1601.^[5][4] The old "dark" sense became poetic and died out by 1591, except of the sea and other waters, where poets kept it until the 19th century;^[4] Chaucer already called the sea wan.^[4][12] A poetic sense "sad, dismal, deadly" lasted from c. 1440 to 1600.^[4] Johnson (1755) defined the word as "pale, as with sickness; languid of look".^[14] In Scots ballads the old sense survived in wan water, dark or gloomy water, while north Yorkshire and Warwickshire dialect used wan for pale and sickly.^[15] The verb, Old English wannian, meant to grow dark or livid until about 1400; "to grow pale" is recorded from the late 16th century (1578 in Merriam-Webster, 1582 in the OED) and "to make pale" from 1889.^[4][3]

Timeline

• Old English – dark, gloomy, also of the sea (Beowulf).^[4][6]
• Old English – livid, leaden-coloured.^[4]
• Old English – the verb, to grow dark or livid.^[4]
• a1300 – pallid, unhealthily pale;^[4] about 1300 in Etymonline.^[5]
• c. 1374 – pale and wan (Chaucer).^[4]
• mid-14th century – of heavenly bodies;^[5] 1601 in the OED.^[4]
• c. 1440 – sad, dismal, deadly (poetic, obsolete by 1600).^[4]
• 1578 – the verb, to grow pale;^[3] 1582 in the OED.^[4]
• 1877 – a wan smile.^[4]
• 1889 – the verb, to make pale.^[4]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Unnaturally pale, especially from illness, grief or exhaustion: He looked wan after a week in bed.
2. Suggesting weakness, sadness or ill health: a wan smile.
3. Of light, the moon or stars: faint, dim.
4. (poetic, archaic) Dark or gloomy, especially of water.

Verb

1. (poetic) To make or become pale.

Word family

• wanly
• wanness
• wannish

Related words

• wane
• want

Usage notes

The acronym WAN, a wide area network, is a separate word, recorded from 1983 and formed after LAN.^[4][3]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
7. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
8. ^ Heidermanns, Frank (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der germanischen Primäradjektive, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter
9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
12. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)