wight

CEFRB2

/waɪt/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A person or living creature, especially in old writing.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A ghost, deity or other supernatural entity.

Examples

  • In old stories, a wight is a strange and frightening living creature.

  • The Isle of Wight is a small and peaceful island off the south coast.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A supernatural being, often used in compounds such as the land-vættr which guard the land, especially the four guardians of Iceland.

  2. A living creature, especially a human being.

  3. A wraith-like creature.

More examples

In context

  • The Isle of Wight is located off the south coast.

  • The man that hath no love of chess/Is truth to say a sorry wight.

  • O bace gongarian wight, wilt thou the ſpicket willd?

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

During the dark wizard's ritual, a ghostly blank appeared from the underworld to serve him.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English wight, wiȝt, from Old English wiht (“thing, creature”), from Proto-West Germanic *wihti, from Proto-Germanic *wihtiz (“thing, creature”, literally “being”), from Proto-Indo-European *wekti- (“cause, sake, thing”), from *wekʷ- (“to say, tell”). Cognate with Scots wicht (“creature, being, human”), Dutch wicht (“child, baby, girl”), German Low German Wicht (“girl; wight”), German Wicht (“wretch, wight, little creature, scoundrel”), Danish vætte (“underground creature, gnome”), Norwegian Bokmål vette (“underground creature, gnome”), Swedish vätte (“underground creature, gnome”), Icelandic vættur (“imp, elf”). Doublet of whit.