wind

English has two words spelled wind: moving air, pronounced /wɪnd/, and “to turn, twist”, pronounced /waɪnd/.^[1][2][3]

wind¹ air

Pronunciation

• IPA: /wɪnd/^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English wind, inherited from Old English wind,^[4][1] from Proto-Germanic *winda-,^[4] the source also of Old Saxon and Dutch wind, Old High German wint (German Wind), Old Norse vindr and Gothic winds.^[1][5] It is from Proto-Indo-European *wē-nt-o- (“blowing”), a participial form of Proto-Indo-European *we- (“to blow”),^[4] which also gave Latin ventus and Welsh gwynt.^[1][5] The verb, “to expose to air” and later “to put out of breath”, is from the noun.^[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Air in natural motion: about 725, in Beowulf,^[1] and the OED, by the direction it blows from, also from about 725.^[6]

Semantic evolution

From about 1200 the wind was a symbol of emptiness and vanity, and in Middle English also of swiftness and changeability.^[4] The wind as what drives a sailing ship is from about 900.^[6] The normal sound change made the word rhyme with kind (Donne rhymes it with mind), but it changed to a short vowel in the 18th century, probably under the influence of windy.^[4] A windfall was first fruit blown down by the wind (15th century), then an unexpected gain (16th).^[5] To get wind of, from a hunted animal catching the scent of the hunter, is from the mid-19th century.^[7] The verb meant “to expose to the wind” from the mid-13th century, “to scent”, of animals, by about 1400,^[4] and “to sound a horn” by the 1580s.^[4] “To put out of breath” is from the late 15th century, and in boxing, of a punch in the stomach, from 1802.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 725 – moving air.^[1]
• c. 900 – the wind that drives a ship.^[6]
• c. 1200 – symbol of emptiness.^[4]
• mid-13th century – verb, to expose to the wind.^[4]
• c. 1400 – verb, to scent.^[4]
• 16th century – windfall, an unexpected gain.^[5]
• 18th century – the short vowel.^[4]
• 1802 – verb, to wind with a punch.^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A natural movement of air, especially along the ground.
2. Air moved by a fan or bellows.
3. Breath, or the ability to breathe: lose one's wind.
4. Gas in the stomach or intestines.
5. Empty talk.
6. (music) The woodwind and brass instruments of an orchestra.

Verb

1. To make short of breath: the climb winded him.
2. To catch the scent of.
3. To expose to the air.

Word family

• windy
• windmill
• windfall
• windpipe
• windward
• windbreak
• winnow
• window

wind² turn

Pronunciation

• IPA: /waɪnd/^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English winden,^[4][1] inherited from Old English windan (“to turn, twist, plait, brandish”),^[4][1] from Proto-Germanic *windan,^[4] the source also of Old Saxon windan, Dutch winden, Old High German wintan (German winden), Old Norse vinda and Gothic biwindan “to wind around”,^[1][2] from Proto-Indo-European *wendh- (“to turn, wind, weave”).^[4][1] It is related to wander, and wend is its causative.^[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English windan, about 725 in Beowulf;^[1] in the OED's first example, about 897, it expresses rapid or forcible motion, as of flowing water.^[6] Middle English winden is from about 1175.^[1]

Semantic evolution

The Old English verb meant to move in a certain direction;^[5] in Middle English it is not always clear whether it or wend is meant.^[4] To move in a circular or winding path is from the 13th century,^[5] to pass something round something else from the 14th,^[5] and to set a mechanism going by winding, as a clock, from the 17th.^[5] The noun, an apparatus for winding, is from 1399, and a bend or twist from 1825.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 725 – Old English windan.^[1]
• 13th century – to move in a circular path.^[5]
• 14th century – to pass round something.^[5]
• 1399 – noun, a winch.^[6]
• 17th century – to wind a clock.^[5]
• 1825 – noun, a bend or twist.^[6]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To wrap something around itself or another thing; to coil.
2. To turn a crank or key, as to tighten a spring: wind a clock.
3. To move or go along a twisting course: the road winds through the hills.

Noun

1. A single turn or bend.

Word family

• winder
• winding
• wind up
• unwind
• rewind

Related words

• wend
• vent
• ventilate
• weather
• wander
• wand
• widdershins

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
2. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g 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