wen

See also: Wen, weń, wên, wēn, wén, wěn, and wèn

Translingual

Symbol

wen

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-5 language code for Sorbian languages.

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: wĕn, IPA^(key): /wɛn/
• Rhymes: -ɛn
• Homophone: when (wine–whine merger)

Etymology 1

From Middle English wen, wenne, from Old English wenn, wænn (“wen”), from Proto-Germanic *wanjaz. Cognate with Dutch wen (“goiter”), Low German Ween (“wen”), dialectal German Wenne (“wen”), Danish van, væne.

Noun

wen (plural wens)

1. A cyst on the skin; a tumor or wart.
   • 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Country Described. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part II (A Voyage to Brobdingnag), page 220:

     There was a Fellow with a Wen in his Neck, larger than five Woolpacks, and another with a couple of wooden Legs, each about twenty foot high.

   • 1854, Henry David Thoreau, Walden, Walden:

     When I have met an immigrant tottering under a bundle which contained his all--looking like an enormous wen which had grown out of the nape of his neck--I have pitied him, not because that was his all, but because he had all that to carry.

   • 1973, Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow:

     Creeps, foreigners with tinted, oily skin, wens, sties, cysts, wheezes, bad teeth, limps, staring or—worse—with Strange Faraway Smiles.

   • 1996, David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest […], Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 4:

     I am debating whether to risk scratching the right side of my jaw, where there is a wen.

Derived terms

• Great Wen

Translations

a cyst on the skin

• Bulgarian: липома f (lipoma)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: rakkula (fi), rakko (fi), kysta (fi)
• French: loupe (fr) f
• German: Grützbeutel m, Grießknoten m, Talgknoten m, Fettgeschwulst f, Balggeschwulst f (archaic)
• Irish: goirín m, ainglis f (familiar), cist gheire f
• Italian: natta (it) f
• Korean: 혹 (ko) (hok)
• Ottoman Turkish: اور (ur)
• Plautdietsch: Knubbel m
• Russian: жирови́к (ru) m (žirovík)
• Swedish: please add this translation if you can
• Tagalog: butlig

Etymology 2

From Old English wynn.

Noun

wen (plural wens)

1. Obsolete form of wynn (“the letter ƿ”).

Etymology 3

Eye dialect spelling of when.

Adverb

wen (not comparable)

1. (eye dialect) Alternative spelling of when

Conjunction

wen

1. (eye dialect) Alternative spelling of when

Pronoun

wen

1. (eye dialect) Alternative spelling of when

Noun

wen (uncountable)

1. (eye dialect) Alternative spelling of when

Anagrams

• New, new, new-

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch winnen, from Middle Dutch winnen, from Old Dutch winnan, from Proto-Germanic *winnaną, from Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- (“to strive, desire, wish, love”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vɛn/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

wen (present wen, present participle wennende, past participle gewen)

1. to win

Belizean Creole

Conjunction

wen

1. when

References

• Crosbie, Paul, ed. (2007), Kriol-Inglish Dikshineri: English-Kriol Dictionary. Belize City: Belize Kriol Project, p. 371.

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʋɛn/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: wen
• Rhymes: -ɛn

Etymology 1

From Proto-Germanic *hwannē. Cognate with English when, German wann.

Adverb

wen

1. (archaic) when

   En ik dacht aan den geur harer bloesems, aan het huiveren harer takken, aan den zang harer vogelen; en ik vroeg mij: wen rieken wij die? (V. Someren, 1822)

   And I thought about the scent of her blossoms, at the shuddering of her branches, at the songs of her birds, and I asked myself: when do we smell these?

Conjunction

wen

1. (archaic) when

   Daar heb ik wen de vogels vlogen, heimelik in elk nest geschouwd! (L. De Mont, 1880)

   There have I, when the birds flew, looked privily in each nest!

Etymology 2

Verb

wen

1. inflection of wennen:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative

Elfdalian

Etymology

From Old Norse hvern.

Pronoun

wen

1. what

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [veːn]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eːn

Pronoun

wen

1. (interrogative) accusative of wer: whom (direct object).

   Wen hast du gefragt?

   Whom did you ask?

Further reading

• “wen” in Duden online
• “wen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Gothic

Romanization

wēn

1. Romanization of 𐍅𐌴𐌽

Ilocano

Particle

wen

1. yes

Jamaican Creole

Etymology

Derived from English when.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wen/

Adverb

wen

1. when
   • 2012, Di Jamiekan Nyuu Testiment, Edinburgh: DJB, published 2012, →ISBN, Matyu 23:7:

     Dem lov wen piipl gi dem speshal oudi wen dem go a maakit, an wen dem kaal dem, 'Tiicha'.

     They love [when] people to greet them with respect [when] in the marketplaces, and they love to have people call them 'Teacher'.

Further reading

• wen at majstro.com

Japanese

Romanization

wen

1. Rōmaji transcription of ゑん

Mandarin

Romanization

wen

1. Nonstandard spelling of wēn.
2. Nonstandard spelling of wén.
3. Nonstandard spelling of wěn.
4. Nonstandard spelling of wèn.

Usage notes

• Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

wen

1. Alternative form of wayn (“wagon”)

Etymology 2

Noun

wen (uncountable)

1. Alternative form of wynne (“happiness”)

Etymology 3

Verb

wen

1. (Northern) Alternative form of winnen (“to win”)

North Frisian

Alternative forms

• wan (Föhr-Amrum)
• wine, wune (Mooring)

Etymology

From Old Frisian winna, from Proto-Germanic *winnaną.

Verb

wen

1. (Sylt) to win

Conjugation

Conjugation of wen (Sylt dialect)

infinitive I	wen
infinitive II	(tö) wenen
past participle	wonen
imperative	wen
	present	past
1st singular	wen	wuan
2nd singular	wenst	wuanst
3rd singular	went	wuan
plural / dual	wen	wuan
	perfect	pluperfect
1st singular	haa wonen	her wonen
2nd singular	heest wonen	herst wonen
3rd singular	heer wonen	her wonen
plural / dual	haa wonen	her wonen
	future (skel)	future (wel)
1st singular	skel wen	wel wen
2nd singular	sket wen	wet wen
3rd singular	skel wen	wel wen
plural / dual	skel wen	wel wen

Northern Kankanay

Pronunciation

• (Standard Kankanaey) IPA^(key): /ˈwən/ [ˈwɨn]
• Rhymes: -ən
• Syllabification: wen

Particle

wën

1. Clipping of owen.

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of wen

Southern / Central
Benguet	Mankayan	aw
	Bakun	aw
	Kapangan	aw
	Kibungan	aw
	Buguias	aw
Mt. Province	Tadian	aw
	Bauko	aw
	Sabangan	aw
Northern / Applai
Mt. Province	parts of Tadian	wen, owen
	parts of Bauko	wen, owen
	Sagada	wen, owen
	Besao	wen, owen
	parts of Sabangan	wen, owen

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *wēniz, from Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- (“love”). Cognate with Old Frisian wen, Old Saxon wan, Old High German wān (German Wahn (“delusion”)), Old Norse ván, Gothic 𐍅𐌴𐌽𐍃 (wēns).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /weːn/

Noun

wēn f

1. expectation
2. likelihood
3. (poetic) hope
4. probability
   • c. 992, Ælfric, "The Octaves and Circumcision of our Lord"

     Wēn is þæt eower sum nyte hwæt sy ymbsnidennys.

     It is probable that some of you know not what circumcision is.

   • 1000. West Saxon Gospels (John, xvii. 26). Ic him cyðde ðinne naman & gyt wylle cyþan.

Declension

Declension of wēn (strong i-stem)

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	wēn	wēne, wēna
accusative	wēn, wēne	wēne, wēna
genitive	wēne	wēna
dative	wēne	wēnum

Descendants

• Middle English: wene, wen
  • English: ween
  • Scots: wen, wene

Old Polish

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *vъ́nъ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (10^th–15^th CE) /vɛn/
• IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /vɛn/

Adverb

wen

1. (attested in Greater Poland) outdoors, outside
   • 1916 [second half of the 15th century], Stanisław Słoński, editor, Psałterz puławski‎^[1], Greater Poland, pages 30, 15:

     Gysz mye wydzyely, wen (foras) vczekaly ode mnye

     [Jiż mie widzieli, wen (foras) uciekali ode mnie]

Derived terms

noun

• zewność

 

adverb

• zewna

 

References

• B. Sieradzka-Baziur, Ewa Deptuchowa, Joanna Duska, Mariusz Frodyma, Beata Hejmo, Dorota Janeczko, Katarzyna Jasińska, Krystyna Kajtoch, Joanna Kozioł, Marian Kucała, Dorota Mika, Gabriela Niemiec, Urszula Poprawska, Elżbieta Supranowicz, Ludwika Szelachowska-Winiarzowa, Zofia Wanicowa, Piotr Szpor, Bartłomiej Borek, editors (2011–2015), “wen”, in Słownik pojęciowy języka staropolskiego (in Polish), Kraków: IJP PAN, →ISBN

Welsh

Adjective

wen

1. Soft mutation of gwen (“white (feminine)”).

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
gwen	wen	ngwen	unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.