want

English Online Dictionary. What means want‎? What does want mean?

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English wanten (“to lack”), from Old Norse vanta (“to lack”), from Proto-Germanic *wanatōną (“to be wanting, lack”), from *wanô (“lack, deficiency”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- (“empty”). Cognate with Middle High German wan (“not full, empty”), Middle Dutch wan (“empty, poor”), Old English wana (“want, lack, absence, deficiency”), Latin vanus (“empty”). See wan, wan-.

Alternative forms

• waunt (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: wŏnt, IPA^(key): /wɒnt/
• (US) enPR: wŏnt, wŭnt, wônt IPA^(key): /wɑnt/, /wʌnt/, /wɔnt/
• (General Australian) enPR: wŏnt, IPA^(key): /wɔnt/
• (New Zealand) enPR: wŏnt, wŭnt, IPA^(key): /wɔnt/, (nonstandard) /wɐnt/
• (Indian English) IPA^(key): /wɔnt/
• Rhymes: -ɒnt, -ʌnt, -ɔːnt
• Homophone: wont (one pronunciation)

Verb

want (third-person singular simple present wants, present participle wanting, simple past and past participle wanted)

1. (transitive) To wish for or desire (something); to feel a need or desire for; to crave or demand. [from 18th c.]
   • 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)

     I want to find a supermarket. — Oh, okay. The supermarket is at 1500 Irving Street. It is near the apartment. — Great!

   1. (by extension) To make it easy or tempting to do something undesirable, or to make it hard or challenging to refrain from doing it.

      The game developers of Candy Crush want you to waste large, copious amounts of your money on in-game purchases to buy boosters and lives.

      Depression wants you to feel like the world is dark and that you are not worthy of happiness. The first step to making your life better from this day forward is to stop believing these lies.

2. (transitive, in particular) To wish, desire, or demand to see, have the presence of or do business with.

   Ma’am, you are exactly the professional we want for this job.

   Danish police want him for embezzlement.
3. (intransitive) To desire (to experience desire); to wish.
   • 2019 May 5, "The Last of the Starks", Game of Thrones season 8 episode 4 (written by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss):

     TYRION: You don't want it?

     BRAN: I don't really want anymore.

4. (colloquial, usually second person, often future tense) To be advised to do something (compare should, ought).

5. (transitive, now colloquial) To lack and be in need of or require (something, such as a noun or verbal noun). [from 15th c.]

6. (transitive, now rare) To have occasion for (something requisite or useful); to require or need.
7. (intransitive, dated) To be lacking or deficient or absent. [from 13th c.]
8. (intransitive, dated) To be in a state of destitution; to be needy; to lack.

9. (transitive, archaic) To lack and be without, to not have (something). [from 13th c.]

10. (transitive, obsolete, by extension) To lack and (be able to) do without.

Usage notes

• This is a catenative verb. See Appendix:English catenative verbs

Conjugation

Synonyms

• (desire): set one's heart on, wish for, would like
• (not to have): lack, be without
• (require): need, be in need of

Derived terms

Descendants

• Chinese Pidgin English: wantchee, 灣治

Translations

Noun

want (countable and uncountable, plural wants)

1. (countable) A desire, wish, longing.
2. (countable, often followed by of) Lack, absence, deficiency.
3. (uncountable) Poverty.
   • 1713, Jonathan Swift, A Preface to Bishop Burnet's Introduction

     Nothing is so hard for those who abound in riches, as to conceive how others can be in want.

4. Something needed or desired; a thing of which the loss is felt.
5. (UK, mining) A depression in coal strata, hollowed out before the subsequent deposition took place.

Derived terms

• for want of
• want ad
• wantful
• wantless
• wantsome
• wanty

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English wont (“mole”), from Old English wand, wond, from Proto-Germanic *wanduz.

Pronunciation

• enPR: wŏnt, IPA^(key): /wɒnt/

Noun

want (plural wants)

1. (dialectal) A mole (Talpa europea).

References

• want at OneLook Dictionary Search
• “want”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• tawn

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch want, from Middle Dutch want, from Old Dutch wanda, from Proto-Germanic *hwandē.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vant/

Conjunction

want

1. for, because

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʋɑnt/
• Hyphenation: want
• Rhymes: -ɑnt
• Homophone: wand

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch want, from Old Dutch wanda, from Proto-Germanic *hwandê. Cognate with Old High German wanta, Middle High German wante.

Conjunction

want

1. for, because, as

   Hij komt niet, want hij is ziek. — He is not coming, because he is sick. (Note: The order is SVO after want.)

Synonyms

• dewijl

Hyponyms

• omdat
• doordat

Descendants

• Afrikaans: want
• Negerhollands: want
• → Kwinti: want

See also

• aangezien
• omdat
• vermits

Etymology 2

From Middle Dutch want, from Old Dutch *want, from Frankish *wantu, from Proto-Germanic *wantuz.

Noun

want f (plural wanten, diminutive wantje n)

1. A mitten, type of glove in which four fingers get only one section, besides the thumb.

Derived terms

• ovenwant

Descendants

• → Munsee: wa’nt
• → Papiamentu: wante

See also

• handschoen

Etymology 3

From Middle Dutch want, gewant, from Old Dutch *giwant, from Proto-Germanic *gawandą, from the root of winden.

Noun

want n (plural wanten, diminutive wantje n)

1. A course type of woolen fabric; anything made from it.
2. The rigging, ropes supporting masts and sails aboard a ship. shroud, sideways support for a mast.

   Synonyms: touwwerk, wantwerk

3. Various types of nets and snares for fishing, hunting or farming.
4. Horse tackle.

Derived terms

• wantborstel
• wanthuis
• wantschaar
• wantsnijder

- concerning rigging

Etymology 4

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

want

1. second- and third-person singular present indicative of wannen
2. (archaic) plural imperative of wannen

Middle Dutch

Etymology 1

from Old Dutch wanda, from Proto-Germanic *hwandē.

Conjunction

want

1. because, for

Descendants

• Dutch: want

Etymology 2

From Old Dutch *want, from Frankish *wantu.

Noun

want m

1. A glove, mitten.

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

• Dutch: want

Further reading

• “want (III)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929), “want (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page I
• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929), “want (V)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page V

Old High German

Etymology 1

From Proto-Germanic *wanduz (“stick, rod; barrier made of sticks, fence”), whence also Old Norse vǫndr, Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌿𐍃 (wandus).

Noun

want f

1. a wall

Descendants

• Middle High German: want
  • Central Franconian: Wand, Wank
  • Cimbrian: bant
  • German: Wand
  • Hunsrik: Wand
  • Luxembourgish: Wand
  • Pennsylvania German: Wand
  • Vilamovian: waond
  • Yiddish: וואַנט‎ (vant)

Etymology 2

Verb

want

1. first/third-person singular past indicative of wintan

Tocharian A

Etymology

From Proto-Tocharian *wyente, from Post-PIE *h₂weh₁ntos, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wéh₁n̥ts, from *h₂weh₁- (“to blow”) (compare English wind, Latin ventus). Compare Tocharian B yente.

Noun

want

1. wind

West Frisian

Alternative forms

• hwant

Etymology

From Old Frisian hwant, hwante, hwande, hwanda, from Proto-Germanic *hwandê.

Conjunction

want

1. because

Synonyms

• omdat

Yola

Verb

want

1. simple past tense of goe

References

• Jacob Poole (1867), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, page 102