Etymologically
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wet

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Pronunciation

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

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