Added 3 October 2026
want
/wɔnt/ noun ▶ hear it
In Latin: volō Wiktionary
noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0), via the Free Dictionary API. More about want at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
verb
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To wish for or desire (something); to feel a need or desire for; to crave or demand.
What do you want to eat? I want you to leave. I never wanted to go back to live with my mother.
-
(in particular) To wish, desire or demand to see, have the presence of or do business with.
Danish police want him for embezzlement.
-
To desire (to experience desire); to wish.
You can leave if you want.
Origin
From Middle English wanten (“to lack, to need”), from Old Norse vanta (“to lack”), from Proto-Germanic *wanatōną (“to be wanting, lack”), from *wanô (“lack, deficiency”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- (“empty”). Cognate with Middle High German wan (“not full, empty”), Middle Dutch wan (“empty, poor”), Old English wana (“want, lack, absence, deficiency”), Latin vanus (“empty”). See wan, wan-.
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)