Unnumbered source etymology · variant 1/2
Original entry ↗verb
To make white; to whiten; to bleach.
noun
Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventoryThe color of snow or milk; the color of light containing equal amounts of all visible wavelengths. · A person of European descent with light-colored skin. · Any butterfly of the subfamily Pierinae in the family Pieridae. · White wine.
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱweyt- Proto-Germanic *hwītaz Proto-West Germanic *hwīt Old English hwīt Middle English whit English white Inherited from Middle English whit, hwit, from Old English hwīt, from Proto-West Germanic *hwīt, from Proto-Germanic *hwītaz, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱweydós, a byform of *ḱweytós (“bright; shine”). Cognates * West Frisian wyt * Dutch wit * German weiß * German weiss * Norwegian Bokmål hvit * Norwegian Nynorsk kvit * Swedish vit * Danish hvid * Lithuanian šviẽsti (“to gleam”), šviesa (“light”) * Old Church Slavonic свѣтъ (světŭ, “light”), свѣтьлъ (světĭlŭ, “clear, bright”) * Persian سفید (sefid, “white”), Persian سپید (sepid, “white”) * Avestan 𐬯𐬞𐬀𐬉𐬙𐬀 (spaēta, “white”) * Sanskrit श्वेत (śvetá, “white, bright”)
Relationships mentioned by the source
These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.
- Inherited-form mentionwhitenm
- Inherited-form mentionhwītang
- Inherited-form mention*hwītgmw-pro
- Inherited-form mention*hwītazgem-pro
- Inherited-form mention*ḱweydósine-pro
- Cognate mentionwytfy
- Cognate mentionwitnl
- Cognate mentionweißde
- Cognate mentionweissde
- Cognate mentionhvitnb
- Cognate mentionkvitnn
- Cognate mentionvitsv
- Cognate mentionhvidda
- Cognate mentionšviẽstilt · to gleam
- Cognate mentionсвѣтъcu · light
- Cognate mentionسفیدfa · white
- Cognate mentionسپیدfa · white
- Cognate mention𐬯𐬞𐬀𐬉𐬙𐬀ae · white
- Cognate mentionश्वेतsa · white, bright
This page abbreviates 13 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.
{
"templates": [
{
"name": "etymon",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": ":inh",
"3": "enm:whit",
"tree": "1"
},
"expansion": "Etymology tree\nProto-Indo-European *ḱweyt-\nProto-Germanic *hwītaz\nProto-West Germanic *hwīt\nOld English hwīt\nMiddle English whit\nEnglish white\n[Appendix:Glossary#inherited|Inherited]] from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Germanic\", \"term\" : \"*hwītaz\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"gem-pro\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-West Germanic\", \"term\" : \"*hwīt\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"gmw-pro\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Old English\", \"term\" : \"hwīt\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"ang\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Middle English\", \"term\" : \"whit\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"enm\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"English\", \"term\" : \"white\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"en\" }\" data-lang=\"en\" data-title=\"white\">"
},
{
"name": "yesno",
"args": {
"1": "",
"2": "i",
"3": "I"
},
"expansion": "I"
},
{
"name": "glossary",
"args": {
"1": "Inherited"
},
"expansion": "Inherited"
},
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "enm",
"3": "whit",
"4": "",
"5": "",
"lit": "",
"pos": "",
"tr": "",
"ts": "",
"id": "",
"sc": "",
"g": "",
"g2": "",
"g3": "",
"nocat": "",
"sort": ""
},
"expansion": "Middle English whit"
},
{
"name": "inh+",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "enm",
"3": "whit"
},
"expansion": "Inherited from Middle English whit"
},
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "ang",
"3": "hwīt"
},
"expansion": "Old English hwīt"
},
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "gmw-pro",
"3": "*hwīt"
},
"expansion": "Proto-West Germanic *hwīt"
},
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "gem-pro",
"3": "*hwītaz"
},
"expansion": "Proto-Germanic *hwītaz"
},
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "ine-pro",
"3": "*ḱweydós"
},
"expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *ḱweydós"
},
{
"name": "col-top",
"args": {
"1": "2",
"2": "cog"
},
"expansion": "Cognates"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "fy",
"2": "wyt"
},
"expansion": "West Frisian wyt"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "nl",
"2": "wit"
},
"expansion": "Dutch wit"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "de",
"2": "weiß"
},
"expansion": "German weiß"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "de",
"2": "weiss"
},
"expansion": "German weiss"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "nb",
"2": "hvit"
},
"expansion": "Norwegian Bokmål hvit"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "nn",
"2": "kvit"
},
"expansion": "Norwegian Nynorsk kvit"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "sv",
"2": "vit"
},
"expansion": "Swedish vit"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "da",
"2": "hvid"
},
"expansion": "Danish hvid"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "lt",
"2": "šviẽsti",
"t": "to gleam"
},
"expansion": "Lithuanian šviẽsti (“to gleam”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "cu",
"2": "свѣтъ",
"t": "light"
},
"expansion": "Old Church Slavonic свѣтъ (světŭ, “light”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "fa",
"2": "سفید",
"t": "white",
"tr": "sefid"
},
"expansion": "Persian سفید (sefid, “white”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "fa",
"2": "سپید",
"t": "white",
"tr": "sepid"
},
"expansion": "Persian سپید (sepid, “white”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "ae",
"2": "𐬯𐬞𐬀𐬉𐬙𐬀",
"tr": "spaēta",
"t": "white"
},
"expansion": "Avestan 𐬯𐬞𐬀𐬉𐬙𐬀 (spaēta, “white”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "sa",
"2": "श्वेत",
"t": "white, bright",
"tr": "śvetá"
},
"expansion": "Sanskrit श्वेत (śvetá, “white, bright”)"
},
{
"name": "etymon",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": ":inh",
"3": "enm:whit",
"tree": "1"
},
"expansion": "Etymology tree\nProto-Indo-European *ḱweyt-\nProto-Germanic *hwītaz\nProto-West Germanic *hwīt\nOld English hwīt\nMiddle English whit\nEnglish white"
}
],
"links": [
[
"*ḱweyt-",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/ḱweyt-#Proto-Indo-European:_shine"
],
[
"*hwītaz",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/hwītaz"
],
[
"*hwīt",
"Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/hwīt"
],
[
"hwīt",
"hwit#Old_English"
],
[
"whit",
"whit#Middle_English"
],
[
"whit",
"whit#Middle_English"
],
[
"hwit",
"hwit#Middle_English"
],
[
"hwīt",
"hwit#Old_English"
],
[
"*hwīt",
"Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/hwīt"
],
[
"*hwītaz",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/hwītaz"
],
[
"*ḱweydós",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/ḱweydós"
],
[
"*ḱweytós",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/ḱweytós"
],
[
"wyt",
"wyt#West_Frisian"
],
[
"wit",
"wit#Dutch"
],
[
"weiß",
"weiß#German"
],
[
"weiss",
"weiss#German"
],
[
"hvit",
"hvit#Norwegian_Bokmål"
],
[
"kvit",
"kvit#Norwegian_Nynorsk"
],
[
"vit",
"vit#Swedish"
],
[
"hvid",
"hvid#Danish"
],
[
"šviẽsti",
"šviesti#Lithuanian"
],
[
"šviesa",
"šviesa#Lithuanian"
],
[
"свѣтъ",
"свѣтъ#Old_Church_Slavonic"
],
[
"свѣтьлъ",
"свѣтьлъ#Old_Church_Slavonic"
],
[
"سفید",
"سفید#Persian"
],
[
"سپید",
"سپید#Persian"
],
[
"𐬯𐬞𐬀𐬉𐬙𐬀",
"𐬯𐬞𐬀𐬉𐬙𐬀#Avestan"
],
[
"श्वेत",
"श्वेत#Sanskrit"
]
],
"references": [],
"descendants": [],
"lexical": [
{
"pos": "verb",
"glosses": [
"To make white; to whiten; to bleach."
],
"tags": [
"transitive"
],
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{
"pos": "noun",
"glosses": [
"The color of snow or milk; the color of light containing equal amounts of all visible wavelengths.",
"A person of European descent with light-colored skin.",
"Any butterfly of the subfamily Pierinae in the family Pieridae.",
"White wine."
],
"tags": [
"countable",
"uncountable"
],
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"omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
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"links": 0,
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"lexicalRecords": 0,
"lexicalSenses": 13,
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}
}