Etymologically
Log in

wealth

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 00:25. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /welθ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English welthe, formed from Middle English wele “well-being”, the source of weal,[2][3][4] or from well,[5][6] with the noun suffix -th, on the pattern of health.[3][5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The condition of being happy and prosperous, well-being, and also riches: about 1250 in the OED and Barnhart, in Genesis and Exodus;[7][2] the mid-12th century in Etymonline.[3] It was contrasted with woe and care.[7][3]

Semantic evolution

The old sense of happiness or well-being is now obsolete.[3][7] Spiritual well-being is from about 1400,[7] and the welfare of a community from 1390,[7] the sense kept in commonwealth.[7][5] Prosperity in the form of possessions, the modern sense, is also from about 1250,[7] and rich and costly goods from 1352.[7] A plenty or abundance of anything, as in a wealth of detail, is by the 1590s.[3] The wealth of nations is found in Dryden (1666), and Adam Smith's book is from 1776.[3] Wealthy first meant happy and prosperous (about 1375), and rich before 1430.[2] In Scots, walth means abundance.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 1250 – well-being; riches.[7][2]
  • 1352 – costly goods.[7]
  • c. 1375 – wealthy.[2]
  • 1390 – the welfare of a community.[7]
  • 1590s – an abundance of anything.[3]
  • 1776 – The Wealth of Nations.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A large amount of money, property or possessions; riches.
  2. The state of being rich.
  3. All the goods and resources of a person or country that have value.
  4. A great amount or number: a wealth of information.

Word family

  • wealthless
  • commonwealth
  • overwealth
  • wealthy

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ 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)