wait
/weɪt/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.35 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To delay movement or action until some event or time; to remain neglected or in readiness.
Intransitive verb
verb
To wait tables; to serve customers in a restaurant or other eating establishment.
American usage; Intransitive verb
verb
To delay movement or action until the arrival or occurrence of; to await. (Now generally superseded by “wait for”.)
Archaic; Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "Wait here until your car arrives."
- "I’m still waiting for you to pay me back the money I lent you.."
- "They also serve who only stand and wait."
- "Haste, my dear father; 'tis no time to wait."
- "No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or otherwise his man would be there with a message to say that his master would shortly join me if I would kindly wait."
- "The South London tramway replacement will have to wait, possibly five years, because of the slowing down of bus manufacture due to national requirements."
Etymology
From Middle English waiten, from Anglo-Norman waiter, waitier (compare French guetter from Old French gaitier, guaitier), from Frankish *wahtwēn (“to watch, guard”), derivative of Frankish *wahtu (“guard, watch”), from Proto-Germanic *wahtwō (“guard, watch”), from Proto-Indo-European *weǵ- (“to be fresh, cheerful, awake”). Cognate with Old High German wahtēn (“to watch, guard”), German Low German wachten (“to wait”), Dutch wachten (“to wait, expect”), French guetter (“to watch out for”), Saterland Frisian wachtje (“to wait”), West Frisian wachtsje (“to wait”), North Frisian wachtjen (“to stand, stay put”). More at watch. In some senses, merged or influenced by Middle English waiten, weiten (“to do good to, lie in wait for, to contrive good or harm on, catch, snare”), from Old Norse veita (“to give help to, assist, grant, cause to happen”), from Proto-Germanic *waitijaną (“to show, guide, advise, direct”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see, know”). Largely overtook native Middle English biden, from Old English bīdan, source of bide.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /weɪt/
Usage
- Intransitive verb
- American usage
- Archaic
- Transitive verb
- Obsolete
- Colloquial
- British usage
- Informal
Inflected Forms
waits (present, singular)
waiting (participle, present)
waited (participle, past)
waited (past)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
waited (first person, past)
waitest (archaic, present)
waited (past, second person)
waitedst (archaic, past)
waiteth (archaic, present)
waited (past, singular)