Etymologically
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wan

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Pronunciation

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
  • 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)