Etymologically
Log in

waste

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 19:30. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /weɪst/[1]

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English wasten,[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman waster, Old North French waster “to waste, spoil, ruin” (Old French gaster, modern French gâter),[3][2] from Latin vāstāre (“to lay waste”),[3][2] altered under the influence of *wōstjan,[3][2] from vāstus (“empty, desolate”).[3][2] Watkins derives vāstus from Proto-Indo-European *eue- (“to leave, abandon”).[3] The noun and adjective are from Old North French wast, waste, partly from Latin vāstum.[3][4][5] The Germanic word existed in Old English as wēstan “to lay waste”, which the borrowing replaced.[3][2] Spanish gastar and Italian guastare also come from it.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb, “to devastate, ravage”: probably before 1200, in Layamon,[2] about 1200 in Etymonline.[3] The noun, wild uncultivated land, is from about 1200.[3][6]

Semantic evolution

Useless spending or consumption is from 1297 in the OED[6] and about 1300 in Etymonline.[3] The verb meant “to lose strength, pine away” from about 1300,[3] and “to squander” from 1340, in the Ayenbite of Inwyt,[2] as in waste time (mid-14th century).[3] The adjective, of land, “desolate, uncultivated”, is from about 1300,[3] and “superfluous” from about 1400.[3] Refuse or useless material is from about 1400 in Etymonline[3] and the late 17th century in Word Origins.[7] Lay waste is from the early 16th century.[7] Waste-paper is from the 1580s, waste not, want not from 1778,[3] and wastebasket by 1826.[3] The slang sense “to kill” is from 1964.[3]

Timeline

  • before 1200 – verb, to devastate.[2]
  • c. 1200 – noun, wild land.[3][6]
  • 1297 – useless spending.[6]
  • c. 1300 – to pine away.[3]
  • 1340 – to squander.[2]
  • c. 1400 – refuse matter.[3]
  • early 16th century – lay waste.[7]
  • 1778 – waste not, want not.[3]
  • 1964 – to kill (slang).[3]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To use or spend carelessly or uselessly; to squander.
  2. To fail to use: waste an opportunity.
  3. To lose strength or flesh, often with away.
  4. To devastate or destroy.
  5. (slang) To kill.

Noun

  1. Careless or useless spending.
  2. Unwanted material; refuse or rubbish.
  3. A wide empty area of land or water.

Adjective

  1. Of land, empty and not farmed.
  2. Thrown away as useless: waste paper.

Word family

  • wastable
  • wasteless
  • wasteful
  • wastebasket
  • wastelot
  • wastepaper
  • nonwasting
  • unwasted
  • vast
  • devastate
  • wasteland
  • vain
  • vacant
  • vacuum

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press