Etymologically
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wild

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 19:24. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /waɪld/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English wilde, inherited from Old English wilde (“in the natural state, uncultivated, untamed”),[2][3] from Proto-Germanic *wilþijaz,[3][4] the source also of Old Saxon wildi, Dutch and German wild, Old Norse villr and Gothic wilþeis.[3][4] Its origin is uncertain:[2] Watkins and Barnhart connect it with Proto-Indo-European *welt- (“woodlands, wild”), the root of wold,[2][3] while Boutkan gives it no Indo-European etymology and finds its only cognate in Welsh gwyllt “wild”,[2] which Hoad and Merriam-Webster also compare.[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of animals, untamed, and of plants, uncultivated: about 725 in the OED,[6] before 800 in Barnhart.[3]

Semantic evolution

Of places, uncultivated or uninhabited, it is from about 893.[6] Of people, “self-willed, lacking restraint”, is late Old English,[2] and “uncivilized, savage” from before 1300.[6] Of wind and weather it is from about 1200,[2] and “sexually loose” from the mid-13th century.[2] “Distracted with excitement, crazy” is from the 1590s,[2] and the American slang sense “exciting, excellent” from 1955.[2] The noun meant a wild animal probably before 1200, in Layamon,[3] and an uncultivated region from 1637, though the wilds is in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice (1596).[3] Run wild is by the 16th century,[2] wildest dreams from 1717, and Wild West by 1826.[2] Wildfire is from 1032[3] and wilderness goes back to Old English wild dēor, “wild animal”.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – untamed; uncultivated.[6]
  • c. 893 – of places, uninhabited.[6]
  • before 1200 – noun, a wild animal.[3]
  • c. 1200 – of weather.[2]
  • mid-13th century – sexually loose.[2]
  • 1590s – crazy, frantic.[2]
  • 1596 – the wilds.[3]
  • 1826 – Wild West.[2]
  • 1955 – exciting (slang).[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Living or growing in a natural state, not tamed or cultivated.
  2. Of land, not inhabited or farmed.
  3. Without restraint or control; unruly.
  4. Of weather or the sea, violent and stormy.
  5. Very excited or enthusiastic: wild about jazz.
  6. Far from the mark; reckless: a wild guess.

Noun

  1. the wild: a natural state, or a natural setting.
  2. the wilds: a remote, uninhabited region.

Adverb

  1. In a wild way: run wild.

Word family

  • wildly
  • wildness
  • wildish
  • wilderness
  • bewilder
  • wildfire
  • wildcat
  • wildlife
  • wold

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 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 c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press