wench
/wɛnt͡ʃ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.67 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Used as a term of endearment for a female person, especially a wife, daughter, or girlfriend: darling, sweetheart.
Archaic
Example Sentences
- "Jane played the role of a wench in an Elizabethan comedy."
- "I, like a tẽder harted vvench, ſkriked out for feare of the divell."
- "hee weepes like a wench that had ſhed her / milke, he hath confeſt himſelfe to Morgan, whom hee ſuppoſes to be a Friar, [...]"
- "Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz ſtayed by En-rogel: (for they might not be ſeene to come into the citie) and a wench went and told them: and they went, and tolde king Dauid."
- "Beside, this I affirm—afford / Impression of it in thy soul—I will not use my sword / On thee or any for a wench, unjustly though thou tak'st / The thing thou gav'st; […]"
- "He [a chief minister] is uſually governed by a decayed Wench, or favourite Footman, who are the Tunnels through which all Graces are conveyed, and may properly be called, in the laſt Reſort, the Governors of the Kingdom."
Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English wench, wenche (“female baby; girl (especially unmarried); maiden, young woman; bondwoman; serving maid; beloved, sweetheart; concubine, mistress; harlot, prostitute”) [and other forms], a shortened form of Middle English wenchel (“girl; maiden; child”), from Old English wenċel, winċel (“child; servant; slave”), from Proto-Germanic *wankilą, from Proto-Germanic *wankijaną (“to sway; waver”). The English word is cognate with Old High German wenken (“to waver; to give way, yield”), wankōn (“to totter”). The verb is derived from the noun.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: wench, wenchel, wenċel, *wankilą, *wankijaną
Usage
- Archaic
- Humorous
- Offensive
- American usage
- Intransitive verb
Inflected Forms
wenches (plural)
wenchen (dialectal, obsolete)
wenches (present, singular)
wenching (participle, present)
wenched (participle, past)
wenched (past)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
wenched (first person, past)
wenchest (archaic, present)
wenched (past, second person)
wenchedst (archaic, past)