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English word origin

Etymology of wont

From Middle English wont, from Old English ġewunod, past participle of ġewunian (“to be accustomed to, dwell”), the noun sense possibly arising via conflation of wone (“custom, habit, practice”) and the adjective wont. C

3 source sectionsExtended source reportWiktionary original ↗
In this entry · 3 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Source etymology 1

Original entry ↗
noun

One's habitual way of doing things; custom, habit, practice.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

From Middle English wont, from Old English ġewunod, past participle of ġewunian (“to be accustomed to, dwell”), the noun sense possibly arising via conflation of wone (“custom, habit, practice”) and the adjective wont. Compare German Low German Gewohnte (“custom, habit”), Dutch gewoonte, Swedish van. Likely related to wone, wonder, wean, and win.

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

{
  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "root",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*wenh₁-"
      },
      "expansion": ""
    },
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "wont"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English wont"
    },
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "ġewunod"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English ġewunod"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "nds-de",
        "2": "Gewohnte",
        "t": "custom, habit"
      },
      "expansion": "German Low German Gewohnte (“custom, habit”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "nl",
        "2": "gewoonte"
      },
      "expansion": "Dutch gewoonte"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "sv",
        "2": "van"
      },
      "expansion": "Swedish van"
    },
    {
      "name": "doublet",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "wone",
        "3": "wonder",
        "4": "wean",
        "5": "win",
        "notext": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "wone, wonder, wean, and win"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "wont",
      "wont#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "ġewunod",
      "gewunod#Old_English"
    ],
    [
      "ġewunian",
      "gewunian#Old_English"
    ],
    [
      "wone",
      "wone#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "custom",
      "custom"
    ],
    [
      "habit",
      "habit"
    ],
    [
      "practice",
      "practice#Noun"
    ],
    [
      "wont",
      "wont#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "Gewohnte",
      "Gewohnte#Low_German"
    ],
    [
      "gewoonte",
      "gewoonte#Dutch"
    ],
    [
      "van",
      "van#Swedish"
    ],
    [
      "wone",
      "wone#English"
    ],
    [
      "wonder",
      "wonder#English"
    ],
    [
      "wean",
      "wean#English"
    ],
    [
      "win",
      "win#English"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "noun",
      "glosses": [
        "One's habitual way of doing things; custom, habit, practice."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic",
        "humorous",
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
      ],
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}

Source etymology 2

Original entry ↗
adj

Accustomed or used (to or with a thing), accustomed or apt (to do something).

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

From Middle English wont, iwoned, from Old English ġewunod, past participle of ġewunian. Cognate with German gewohnt and Dutch gewend.

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

{
  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "wont"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English wont"
    },
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "ġewunod"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English ġewunod"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "de",
        "2": "gewohnt"
      },
      "expansion": "German gewohnt"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "nl",
        "2": "gewend"
      },
      "expansion": "Dutch gewend"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "wont",
      "wont#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "iwoned",
      "iwoned#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "ġewunod",
      "gewunod#Old_English"
    ],
    [
      "ġewunian",
      "gewunian#Old_English"
    ],
    [
      "gewohnt",
      "gewohnt#German"
    ],
    [
      "gewend",
      "gewend#Dutch"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "adj",
      "glosses": [
        "Accustomed or used (to or with a thing), accustomed or apt (to do something)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable"
      ],
      "recordId": "bc3c324f7379b4d6b0f6e481b37407601a5bd46a2a3b71c7ff90ac9a4531b585",
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}

Source etymology 3

Original entry ↗
verb

To make (someone) used to; to accustom. · To be accustomed (to something), to be in the habit (of doing something).

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

From Middle English wonten (“to accustom”), from wont (adjective). See above.

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

  • Inherited-form mentionwontenenm · to accustom
Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

{
  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "wonten",
        "t": "to accustom"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English wonten (“to accustom”)"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "wonten",
      "wonten#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "wont",
      "wont#Middle_English"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "verb",
      "glosses": [
        "To make (someone) used to; to accustom.",
        "To be accustomed (to something), to be in the habit (of doing something)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic",
        "transitive",
        "intransitive"
      ],
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}

Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

Contribute located evidence for wont →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger
Machine-source provenance
Source SHA-256
5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
Import run
73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID
w-d29udA