Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

wan-

/wɒn/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.80 in modern English

Syllables: wan-
IPA: /wɒn/

6

Scrabble Score

3

Letters

2

Syllables

3

Unique Chars

Meaning

prefix

Preceding nouns and adjectives with the sense “bad”, “un-”.

Etymology

From Middle English wan-, from Old English wan-, from Proto-West Germanic *wana-, from Proto-Germanic *wanaz (“lacking, missing, deficient”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- (“to be lacking, be empty”).

Origin

Source language: Middle English

Word Breakdown

Root: *h₁weh₂-, wan-, *wana-, *wanaz

Questions

How do you pronounce wan-?: The recorded pronunciation is /wɒn/.
What does wan- mean?: Preceding nouns and adjectives with the sense “bad”, “un-”.
Where does wan- come from?: It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce wan-

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “wan-”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/wɒn/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “wan-”.
Repeat and practice — Say “wan-” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.