well

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

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American, Ireland) IPA^(key): /wɛl/
  • (Dublin) IPA^(key): /wɛl/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /wel/
• (interjection, unstressed) IPA^(key): /wəl/, [wɫ̩]
• Rhymes: -ɛl
• Homophone: wool (interjection or unstressed, some accents)
• Hyphenation: well

Etymology 1

From Middle English wel, wal, wol, wele, from Old English wel (“well, abundantly, very, very easily, very much, fully, quite, nearly”), from Proto-Germanic *wela, *wala (“well”, literally “as wished, as desired”), from Proto-Indo-European *welh₁- (“wish, desire”).

Cognate with Scots wele, weil (“well”), North Frisian wel, weil, wal (“well”), West Frisian wol (“well”), Dutch wel (“well”), Low German wol (“well”), German wohl (“well”), Norwegian and Danish vel (“well”), Swedish väl (“well”), Icelandic vel, val (“well”). Related to will.

Alternative forms

• wall (dialectal)
• weel, weil (Scotland)
• welp (US, informal)

Adverb

well (comparative better, superlative best)

1. (manner) Accurately, competently, satisfactorily.
   • 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)

     This day is not going well.

2. (manner) Completely, fully.
3. (degree) To a significant degree.
4. (degree, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang) Very (as a general-purpose intensifier).
5. In a desirable manner; so as one could wish; satisfactorily; favourably; advantageously.
   • October 10, 1714, Alexander Pope, letter to Joseph Addison

     All the world speaks well of you.

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

well (comparative better or weller, superlative best or wellest)

1. In good health.
2. (hypercorrect) Good, content.
3. (uncommon) Prudent; good; well-advised.
4. (archaic, now chiefly Bermuda) Good to eat; tasty, delicious.

Alternative forms

• (Bermuda) val, vell

Derived terms

Translations

Interjection

well

1. Used to acknowledge a statement or situation.
2. An exclamation of sarcastic surprise (often doubled or tripled and spoken in a lowering intonation).

3. An exclamation of indignance.

4. Used in speech to express the overcoming of reluctance to say something.

5. Used in speech to fill gaps, particularly at the beginning of a response to a question; filled pause.
   • 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)

     Well, I am sorry. — It’s okay, Anna.

6. (Ireland) Used as a greeting, short for "Are you well?"

7. Used as a question to demand an answer from someone reluctant to answer.

Synonyms

• (reluctance): like, you know
• (filled pause): I mean, like
• (acknowledgment of previous statement): so
• (indignant): see, look, as if

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English welle, from Old English wielle (“well”), from Proto-West Germanic *wallijā, from Proto-Germanic *wallijǭ (“well, swirl, wave”), from Proto-Indo-European *welH- (“to turn; wind; roll”).

Cognate with West Frisian wel (“well”), Dutch wel (“well”), German Low German Well (“well”), German Welle (“wave”), Danish væld (“well; spring”), Swedish väl (“well”), Icelandic vella (“boiling; bubbling; eruption”).

Noun

well (plural wells)

1. A hole sunk into the ground as a source of water, oil, natural gas or other fluids.
2. A place where a liquid such as water surfaces naturally; a spring.
3. A small depression suitable for holding liquid or other objects.

4. (figurative) A source of supply.
5. (nautical) A vertical, cylindrical trunk in a ship, reaching down to the lowest part of the hull, through which the bilge pumps operate.
6. (nautical) The cockpit of a sailboat.
7. (nautical) A compartment in the middle of the hold of a fishing vessel, made tight at the sides, but having holes perforated in the bottom to let in water to keep fish alive while they are transported to market.
8. (nautical) A vertical passage in the stern into which an auxiliary screw propeller may be drawn up out of the water.
9. (military) A hole or excavation in the earth, in mining, from which run branches or galleries.
10. (architecture) An opening through the floors of a building, as for a staircase or an elevator; a wellhole.
11. The open space between the bench and the counsel tables in a courtroom.
12. (metalworking) The lower part of a furnace, into which the metal falls.
13. A well drink.

14. (video games) The playfield of Tetris and similar video games, into which the blocks fall.
15. (biology) In a microtiter plate, each of the small equal circular or square sections which serve as test tubes.
16. (graphical user interface) The region of an interface that contains tabs.

Synonyms

• (excavation in the earth, from which run branches or galleries): shaft

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English wellen, from a merger of Old English weallan (intransitive) and wiellan (transitive), both meaning “to boil.” Further from Proto-Germanic *wallaną and *wallijaną. Doublet of wall.

Cognate with German wallen (“boil, seethe”), Danish vælde (“gush”), Norwegian Nynorsk vella and outside Germanic, with Albanian valë (“hot, boiling”).

Verb

well (third-person singular simple present wells, present participle welling, simple past and past participle welled)

1. (intransitive) To issue forth, as water from the earth; to flow; to spring.
2. (intransitive) To have something seep out of the surface.

Derived terms

• upwell
• well up

Translations

References

• “well”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “well”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

German

Pronunciation

Verb

well

1. singular imperative of wellen
2. (colloquial) first-person singular present of wellen

Luxembourgish

Etymology

From the accusative of Middle High German wīle, from Old High German wīla, from Proto-West Germanic *hwīlu. Cognate with German weil.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /væl/
• Rhymes: -æl
• Homophone: Well

Conjunction

well

1. because

Middle English

Adverb

well

1. Alternative form of wel

Adjective

well

1. Alternative form of wel

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *wallijā, see also Old High German wella, Old Norse vella.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /well/, [weɫ]

Noun

well m

1. well

Declension

Strong a-stem:

Descendants

• English: well

Pennsylvania German

Etymology

From Middle High German welich, from Old High German welih. Compare German welch.

Adverb

well

1. which

Pronoun

well

1. which

Welsh

Pronunciation

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /ˈwɛɬ/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /ˈweːɬ/, /ˈwɛɬ/

Adjective

well

1. Soft mutation of gwell.

Adverb

well

1. Soft mutation of gwell.

Mutation

Yola

Etymology 1

Interjection

well

1. Alternative form of waal (“well”)

Adverb

well

1. Alternative form of waal (“well”)

Etymology 2

Verb

well

1. Alternative form of woul (“will”)

Etymology 3

From Middle English welle, from Old English wielle.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wɛl/

Noun

well

1. well

References