welcome

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

English

Etymology

From Middle English welcome, wolcume, wulcume, wilcume, from Old English wilcuma (“a wished-for guest”; compare also wilcume (“welcome!”, interjection)), from Proto-West Germanic *willjakwemō, from Proto-Germanic *wiljakwemô (“a wished-for arrival or guest”), possibly from *wiljakwemaną (“to be welcome”), equivalent to will (“desire”) +‎ come (“comer, arrival”). The component wil- was replaced by wel- when the sense “guest” of the second component was no longer understood, likely under influence from the adverb well. Cognate with Scots walcome, West Frisian wolkom, Dutch welkom (earlier willecome), German willkommen, German Low German willkamen, Danish velkommen, Norwegian Bokmål velkommen, Norwegian Nynorsk velkomen, velkommen, Swedish välkommen, Icelandic velkominn, Faroese vælkomin, and Old French wilecome (whence Middle French willecomme (“welcome”)), from Germanic.

The verb is from Middle English welcomen, wolcumen, wilcumen, from Old English wellcumian, wylcumian, wilcumian (“to welcome, receive gladly”).

Similar constructions are found in Romance languages, such as Italian benvenuto, Spanish bienvenido, French bienvenu, Catalan benvingut, Portuguese bem-vindo and Romanian bun venit, meaning “[may you have fared] well [in] coming [here]”. These do not derive from a Classical Latin root, as no similar construction in Latin is found to exist, but are instead presumed to be the result of a calque from, considering the ruling elite of the Germanic kingdoms which succeeded the Western Roman Empire, a Germanic language into Proto-Romance (Vulgar Latin; see Latin *bene venūtus, and compare perdōnō and compāniō for similar historical calques).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada) enPR: wĕlʹkəm, IPA^(key): /ˈwɛlkəm/
• Rhymes: -ɛlkəm
• Hyphenation: wel‧come

Adjective

welcome (comparative more welcome, superlative most welcome)

1. Whose arrival is a cause of joy; received with gladness; admitted willingly to the house, entertainment, or company.
2. Producing gladness.
3. Free to have or enjoy gratuitously.

Translations

Interjection

welcome

1. Greeting given upon someone's arrival.
2. (nonstandard, especially Southern US) Ellipsis of you're welcome.

Usage notes

When used with reference to a place, “welcome” is always followed by “to”. The signs often seen in many non-English-speaking countries welcoming tourists with “in”, such as “Welcome in Heidelberg!”, sound unnatural to some English speakers and show interference from other languages, many of which use a cognate of “in” in this situation, and especially with a cognate of “welcome”.

Translations

Noun

welcome (plural welcomes)

1. The act of greeting someone’s arrival, especially by saying "Welcome!"; reception.
2. The utterance of such a greeting.
3. Kind reception of a guest or newcomer.
4. The state of being a welcome guest.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

welcome (third-person singular simple present welcomes, present participle welcoming, simple past and past participle welcomed)

1. To affirm or greet the arrival of someone, especially by saying "Welcome!".
2. To accept something willingly or gladly.
   • 2019, VOA Learning English (public domain)

     Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang welcomed cooperation with South Korea.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• welcome back
• welcome home

Middle English

Alternative forms

• welcume, wilcume

Etymology

From Old English wilcuma, equivalent to wille +‎ come. Forms with /ɛ/ have been assimilated to wel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwilˌkum(ə)/, /ˈwulˌkum(ə)/, /ˈwɛlˌkum(ə)/

Adjective

welcome

1. welcome

Descendants

• English: welcome
• Yola: welkome, welcome

References

• “welcǒm(e, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Yola

Adjective

welcome

1. Alternative form of welkome

Noun

welcome

1. Alternative form of welkome

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) 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, published 1867, page 77