Etymologically
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widen

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈwaɪdn̩/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English wide + -en.[2][3][4][5][6] Wide is from Old English wīd,[3][7] from Proto-Germanic *wīdaz,[3][7] which is also the source of Old Saxon wīd, Old Frisian wīd, Old Norse víðr, Dutch wijd and Old High German wīt.[3][7][8] The simple adjective had been used as a verb, wide, since about 1300.[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To make something wider: 1566, in Blundeville's The Order of Curing Horses Diseases.[2] Etymonline dates the verb to about 1600,[3] Merriam-Webster to 1640[4] and the Shorter Oxford to the early 17th century.[5]

Semantic evolution

The verb took over from the older verb wide, recorded from about 1300.[3][2] Its intransitive use, "to grow wider", is recorded from 1572 by the OED[2] and by 1709 by Etymonline.[3] In 1567, in Golding's Ovid, it meant to open something wide, such as a gate; the Shorter Oxford records this sense only in the early 17th century.[2][5] Johnson (1755) defined it as "to make wide; to extend", quoting Coriolanus on fortune widening the gates.[9] The figurative sense of extending the scope or range of something dates from 1574, again in Golding, and the intransitive "to become broader in scope" from 1650.[2] In Shropshire and Cheshire dialect, and in Ireland, to widen was to increase the stitches in knitting, and the widdenings were the places where a stocking was widened for the calf.[10] In 1940s African American slang to widen meant to leave, that is, to widen the gap between oneself and another person.[11]

Timeline

  • 1566 – to make wider.[2] Etymonline dates the verb to about 1600.[3]
  • 1567 – to open wide, as of a gate.[2][5]
  • 1572 – to become wider.[2] Etymonline records this use by 1709.[3]
  • 1574 – to extend the scope or range of something.[2]
  • 1650 – to become broader in scope.[2]
  • 1946 – in American slang, to leave.[11]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To make something wider; to broaden or expand: The council plans to widen the lane next spring.[4][12][2]
  2. To become wider: The river widens as it nears the sea.[12][4][2]
  3. To extend the scope or range of something: The police widened their search.[4][2]
  4. To become broader in scope or range: The gap between the two parties has widened.[2]

Word family

  • widener
  • rewiden

Usage notes

The OED also records an obsolete adverb widen, "from far away, far and wide", used from Old English until 1390 and formed from the Germanic base of wide with an adverb suffix meaning "from"; it compares Old High German wīteno (“far and wide”).[2]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  8. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  10. ^ 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)
  11. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins