wet

Pronunciation

• IPA: /wet/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English wet, partly the past participle of the verb weten, inherited from Old English wǣtan (“to wet, moisten”),^[2][3][4] and partly inherited from Old English wǣt (“moist, liquid”),^[5][2][3] from Proto-Germanic *wētaz,^[2] also the source of Old Frisian wēt.^[5][2] It was reinforced by the cognate Old Norse vátr.^[5][2] It goes back to Proto-Indo-European *wed- (“water; wet”),^[5][2] and is related to water.^[4][6] Old English wǣt itself became Middle English weet, still in dialect, and the short vowel spread from the past participle and the verb.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is recorded before 830, earlier than the adjective (before 899, in Alfred's Boethius), though both are usually derived from the adjective.^[2] The noun, moisture or liquid, is about 888.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Rainy weather is already Old English (before 899).^[2] Of paint or ink, not yet dry, is from the 1510s, and of drinking or drunkenness by the 1590s.^[5] In the United States, a wet state or town allowed the sale of alcohol, as opposed to dry, from 1870,^[5][2] and a wet was an opponent of Prohibition by 1931.^[5] The British slang sense of a weak, ineffectual person is from 1896,^[5] and a liberal or moderate Conservative politician is called a wet from 1931 in the OED.^[7] All wet, completely wrong, is American English from 1923.^[5][2] The wetsuit is from 1955.^[5]

Timeline

• a. 830 – verb, to wet.^[2]
• a. 899 – adjective; rainy.^[2]
• 1510s – not yet dry.^[5]
• 1590s – drunken.^[5]
• 1870 – allowing the sale of alcohol.^[5][2]
• 1896 – ineffectual.^[5]
• 1923 – all wet.^[5][2]
• 1955 – wetsuit.^[5]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Covered with or soaked in water or another liquid.
2. Not yet dry or set: wet paint.
3. Rainy: wet weather.
4. (chiefly British, informal) Weak and feeble.
5. Allowing the sale of alcoholic drinks.

Noun

1. Moisture or liquid.
2. Rainy weather.
3. (British) A Conservative politician regarded as moderate.

Verb

1. To make wet.
2. To urinate in or on: wet the bed.

Word family

• wetly
• wetness
• wetter
• wettish
• overwet
• rewet
• unwet
• wettability

Related words

• water
• otter
• hydrogen

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