wish
/ˈwɪʃ/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.18 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A desire, hope, or longing for something or for something to happen.
noun
An expression of such a desire, often connected with ideas of magic and supernatural power.
noun
noun
A water meadow.
Example Sentences
- "It is my wish that the bequest (should) be given to an almshouse."
- "make someone's wish come true"
- "Send this message to six beings of your acquaintance, and your greatest wish shall come true!"
- "make a wish"
- "LESTER: You believe in wishes? I mean, you believe they come true? CHESTER: Nah. I believe in wishes, but I don't believe they come true. Not unless it's a real easy wish, like "I wish I was at a birthday party." But you gotta blow out all the candles, or else the wish don't come true. If one candle stays lit, you don't get your wish."
- "My dearest wish is to see them happily married."
Etymology
From Middle English wisshen, wischen, wüschen, from Old English wȳsċan (“to wish”), from Proto-West Germanic *wunskijan, from Proto-Germanic *wunskijaną (“to wish”), from Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- (“to wish, love”). Cognate with Scots wis (“to wish”), Saterland Frisian wonskje (“to wish”), West Frisian winskje (“to wish”), Dutch wensen (“to wish”), German wünschen (“to wish”), Luxembourgish wënschen (“to wish”), Yiddish ווינטשן (vintshn, “to wish”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål ønske (“to wish”), Faroese ynskja (“to wish, to desire”), Icelandic æskja, óska (“to wish”), Norwegian Nynorsk ønskja, ønskje, ønska, ønske, ynskja, ynskje (“to wish, to desire”), Swedish önska (“to wish”). Via PIE cognate with Latin Venus, veneror (“venerate, honour, love”), English wonder.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: wisshen, wȳsċan, *wunskijan, *wunskijaną, *wenh₁-
Usage
Inflected Forms
wishes (plural)
wishes (present, singular)
wishing (participle, present)
wished (participle, past)
wished (past)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
wished (first person, past)
wishest (archaic, present)
wished (past, second person)
wishedst (archaic, past)
wisheth (archaic, present)
Derived Forms
Phrases
best wishes
death wish
fish one's wish
good wishes
if wishes were horses, beggars would ride
make a wish
wish away
wish-cycling