weight

Pronunciation

• IPA: /weɪt/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English weght, also wihte and wight,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English gewiht, wiht,^[2][3] from the verb wegan (“to weigh”),^[3][5] from Proto-Germanic *wihti-,^[2] the source also of Old Frisian wicht, Dutch gewicht, German Gewicht and Old Norse vætt.^[2][3][6] It goes back to Proto-Indo-European *wegh-, the root of weigh.^[4][2] The final -t forms nouns from verbs in Germanic, and the vowel, which on the pattern of night and sight would give wight, was changed by the influence of weigh.^[3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English gewiht, “weighing; heaviness”, is from before 1000,^[3][8] and Middle English wihte from before 1123, in the Peterborough Chronicle.^[3]

Semantic evolution

By the mid-14th century a weight was a piece of metal used for its heaviness, as in fishing;^[2] the figurative sense “burden” and the sense “what one weighs” are from the late 14th century.^[2] “Importance” is by the 1520s, and clock weights by the 1510s.^[2] To lose weight, of a person, is recorded by 1858,^[2] weight-lifting from 1885 and weight training from 1945.^[2] To pull one's weight is from rowing by 1869, and was made prominent in 1902 by Theodore Roosevelt.^[2] The verb, “to burden”, is from 1647,^[3][8] “to load with weight” from 1747,^[2][8] of horses in a handicap race from 1846,^[2][8] and in statistics from 1901.^[2][8]

Timeline

• before 1000 – Old English gewiht.^[3]
• mid-14th century – a heavy piece of metal.^[2]
• late 14th century – a burden; what one weighs.^[2]
• 1520s – importance.^[2]
• 1647 – verb, to burden.^[3][8]
• 1747 – verb, to load with weight.^[2][8]
• 1858 – to lose weight.^[2]
• 1885 – weight-lifting.^[2]
• 1902 – to pull one's weight popularized.^[2]
• 1945 – weight training.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. How heavy something or someone is.
2. (physics) The force with which gravity pulls on a body.
3. A unit or system of units for measuring heaviness.
4. A heavy object, such as one used on a scale or lifted for exercise.
5. A burden or responsibility.
6. Importance or influence: carry weight.

Verb

1. To make heavier, or hold down with a weight.
2. To burden or oppress.
3. To give a bias to: weighted in their favour.
4. (statistics) To give items different values according to their importance.

Word family

• weighter
• bantamweight
• counterweight
• featherweight
• flyweight
• heavyweight
• lightweight
• overweight

Related words

• weigh
• weighty
• weightless
• wain
• way

Usage notes

A different Scots and northern word weight or wecht, from 1183, was a sieve-like tool with a bottom of sheepskin, used for winnowing.^[8][9]

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 k l m n o p q r s t u v Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ 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)