Unnumbered source etymology
Original entry ↗Having a strong or unpleasant odour.
A brief, gentle breeze; a light gust of air; a waft. · A short inhalation or exhalation of breath, especially when accompanied by smoke from a cigarette or pipe. · A cigarette or small cigar. · An odour (usually unpleasant) carried briefly through the air.
To carry or convey (something) by, or as by, a whiff or puff of air; to blow, puff, or waft away. · To say (something) with an exhalation of breath. · To inhale or exhale (smoke from tobacco, etc.) from a cigarette, pipe, or other smoking implement; to smoke (a cigarette, pipe, etc.); to puff. · To breathe in or sniff (an odour); to smell.
Used to indicate a sound like that of air passing through a small opening, that is, a short or soft whistle.
The noun is possibly: * partly a variant of Middle English wef, weffe (“bad smell, stench, stink; exhalation; vapour; tendency of something to go bad (?)”) [and other forms], possibly a variant of either: ** waf, waif, waife (“odour, scent”), possibly from waven (“to move to and fro, sway, wave; to stray, wander; to move in a weaving manner; (figuratively) to hesitate, vacillate”), from Old English wafian (“to wave”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“to braid, weave”); or ** wef (“a blow, stroke”), from weven (“to travel, wander; to move to and fro, flutter, waver; to blow something away, waft; to cause something to move; to fall; to cut deeply; to sever; to give up, yield; to give deference to; to avoid; to afflict, trouble; to beckon, signal”); further etymology uncertain, perhaps from Old English wefan (“to weave”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“to braid, weave”)), or from wǣfan (see bewǣfan, ymbwǣfan); and * partly onomatopoeic. Noun sense 6 (“name of a number of flatfish”) is possibly derived from sense 1 (“brief, gentle breeze; a light gust of air”), sense 4 (“small quantity of cloud, smoke, vapour, etc.”), and other such senses. The verb and adjective are derived from the noun. Verb sense 2.6 (“to catch fish by dragging a handline near the surface of the water from a moving boat”) is possibly derived from sense 1.1 (“to carry or convey (something) by, or as by, a whiff or puff of air”), sense 2.2 (“to be carried, or move as if carried, by a puff of air”), and other such senses. The interjection is derived from noun sense 7.4 (“a sound like that of air passing through a small opening; a short or soft whistle”).
Relationships mentioned by the source
These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.
This page abbreviates 24 auxiliary source items. The etymology narrative is not shortened. Omission counts are available in the audit fields below; consult the original for complete auxiliary material.
Inspect preserved source fields
Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.
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"1": "Lepidorhombus whiffiagonis",
"2": "species"
},
"expansion": "Lepidorhombus whiffiagonis"
},
{
"name": "taxlink",
"args": {
"1": "Microstomus kitt",
"2": "species"
},
"expansion": "Microstomus kitt"
},
{
"name": "vern",
"args": {
"1": "horned whiff"
},
"expansion": "horned whiff"
},
{
"name": "taxlink",
"args": {
"1": "Citharichthys arenaceus",
"2": "species"
},
"expansion": "Citharichthys arenaceus"
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"expansion": "Middle English wef"
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"t": "to wave"
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"1": "en",
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"3": "*webʰ-",
"t": "to braid, weave"
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"2": "ine-pro",
"3": "*webʰ-",
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"name": "glossary",
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"1": "interjection"
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"expansion": "interjection"
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"links": [
[
"wef",
"wef#Middle_English"
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[
"weffe",
"weffe#Middle_English"
],
[
"waf",
"waf#Middle_English"
],
[
"waif",
"waif#Middle_English"
],
[
"waife",
"waife#Middle_English"
],
[
"waven",
"waven#Middle_English"
],
[
"wafian",
"wafian#Old_English"
],
[
"*webʰ-",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/webʰ-"
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"wef#Middle_English"
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"weven",
"weven#Middle_English"
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[
"wefan",
"wefan#Old_English"
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[
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[
"wǣfan",
"wæfan#Old_English"
],
[
"bewǣfan",
"bewæfan#Old_English"
],
[
"ymbwǣfan",
"ymbwæfan#Old_English"
]
],
"references": [],
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"lexical": [
{
"pos": "adj",
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"Having a strong or unpleasant odour."
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"A brief, gentle breeze; a light gust of air; a waft.",
"A short inhalation or exhalation of breath, especially when accompanied by smoke from a cigarette or pipe.",
"A cigarette or small cigar.",
"An odour (usually unpleasant) carried briefly through the air."
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"To carry or convey (something) by, or as by, a whiff or puff of air; to blow, puff, or waft away.",
"To say (something) with an exhalation of breath.",
"To inhale or exhale (smoke from tobacco, etc.) from a cigarette, pipe, or other smoking implement; to smoke (a cigarette, pipe, etc.); to puff.",
"To breathe in or sniff (an odour); to smell."
],
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"Used to indicate a sound like that of air passing through a small opening, that is, a short or soft whistle."
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