wayfarer

Etymology

It is formed from English way + farer,^[2] first as Middle English weifarere, from wei (“way”) and fāren (“to go, travel”).^[3][4][5][6] Fare is from Old English faran, which the American Heritage Dictionary refers to Proto-Indo-European *per-.^[4] Etymonline records an earlier wayferer from the late 14th century,^[6][2] and Old English wegfarend had the same sense but a different suffix.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A traveller by road: c. 1430, in The Pilgrimage of the Lyf of the Manhode,^[2] which the Middle English Dictionary quotes for the weifareres and the pilgrimes.^[3] It also glosses Latin viator in a dictionary of 1440.^[3] Etymonline dates it to the mid-15th century.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The Middle English Dictionary glosses it as a traveller, an itinerant or a pilgrim,^[3] and it came to imply especially a traveller on foot.^[2][6][5] Johnson (1755) defines it simply as "passenger; traveller".^[7] The verb wayfare, recorded from the 1540s, is a back-formation from it.^[6] Merriam-Webster Unabridged also records the transient guest of an inn or hotel,^[5] and Etymonline dates a brand of Ray-Ban sunglasses called by the name to 1952.^[6]

Timeline

• late 14th century – wayferer, an earlier form.^[6]
• c. 1430 – a traveller by road.^[2]
• 1540s – the verb wayfare, a back-formation.^[6]
• 1952 – a brand of sunglasses.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A traveller, especially one on foot.^[8][5][2]
2. A guest who stays only briefly at an inn or hotel.^[5]

Word family

• wayfaring
• wayfare

Related words

• way
• fare
• farer
• wayferer

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins