different between waif vs wair

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /we?f/
• Rhymes: -e?f

Etymology 1

The noun is derived from Late Middle English weif (“ownerless property subject to seizure and forfeiture; the right of such seizure and forfeiture; revenues obtained from such seizure and forfeiture”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman waif, weif [and other forms] (compare Anglo-Latin waivum [and other forms], Medieval Latin waivium), possibly from Old French waif, a variant of gaif, gayf (“property that is lost and unclaimed; of property: lost and unclaimed”) (Norman) [and other forms], probably from a North Germanic source such as Old Norse veif (“flag; waving thing”), from Proto-Germanic *waif-, from Proto-Indo-European *weyb-, *weyp- (“to oscillate, swing”).

The verb is derived from the noun.

Noun

waif (plural waifs)

1. (Britain, law, archaic) Often in the form waif and stray, waifs and strays: an article of movable property found of which the owner is not known, such as goods washed up on a beach or thrown away by an absconding thief; such items belong to the Crown, which may grant the right of ownership to them to a lord of a manor.
2. (figuratively)
   1. Something found, especially if without an owner; something which comes along, as it were, by chance.
   2. A person (especially a child) who is homeless and without means of support; also, a person excluded from society; an outcast.

      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:vagabond
   3. (by extension) A very thin person.

      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:thin person

      Antonyms: see Thesaurus:fat person

   4. (by extension, botany) A plant introduced in a place outside its native range but is not persistently naturalized.

Derived terms

• waifish
• waifishly
• waifishness
• waiflike

Related terms

• waive

Translations

Verb

waif (third-person singular simple present waifs, present participle waifing, simple past and past participle waifed)

1. (intransitive) To be cast aside or rejected, and thus become a waif.

Translations

Etymology 2

Possibly from Old Norse veif (“flag; waving thing”); see further at etymology 1.

Noun

waif (plural waifs)

1. (nautical, chiefly whaling, historical) A small flag used as a signal.

Related terms

• waff
• waft
• wheft

Translations

Etymology 3

Origin unknown; possibly related to the following words:

• waff (“waving movement; gust or puff of air or wind; odour, scent; slight blow; slight attack of illness; glimpse; apparition, wraith; of the wind: to cause (something) to move to and fro; to flutter or wave to and fro in the wind; to produce a current of air by waving, to fan”) (Northern England, Scotland), a variant of waive (etymology 2) or wave (see further at those entries).
• Middle English wef, weffe (“bad odour, 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 *web?- (“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 *web?- (“to braid, weave”)), or from -w?fan (see bew?fan, ymbw?fan).

Noun

waif (plural waifs)

1. Something (such as clouds or smoke) carried aloft by the wind.

Translations

References

Further reading

• waif and stray on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Middle English

Noun

waif

1. Alternative form of weif

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /w??/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /w??/
• Rhymes: -??(?)
• Homophones: ware, wear

Etymology 1

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

wair (plural wairs)

1. A plank six feet long and one foot across.

Etymology 2

Verb

wair (third-person singular simple present wairs, present participle wairing, simple past and past participle waired)

1. (Scotland, obsolete) To spend.
   • 1826, Mungo Ponton Brown, Supplement to the Dictionary of the Decisions of the Court of Session, Volume 3, Edinburgh, page 569,

     […] they find there was no lesion to the minor by setting the said tack, and that the money waired out by the defender, in building and reparations, viz not only the ?1317 Scots first given out, but also the ?326 last waired by the defender, […]

   • 1831 [1566], John Knox, William McGavin (editor), The History of the Reformation of Religion in Scotland, page 94,

     We shall maintain them, nourish them, and defend them, the whole congregation of Christ, and every member thereof, at our whole powers and wairing [spending] of our lives, against Satan, and all wicked power that does intend tyranny or trouble against the foresaid congregation.

   • 1841, William Alexander, An Abridgement of the Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, 1424—1707, page 243,

     […] Reserving alwayes to the Sheriff or other Magistrates, and taker of the Thief, the expences waired out by them in taking and putting the Thief to execution.

Etymology 3

Verb

wair

1. Nonstandard form of were.
   • 1897, Henry Christopher McCook The Latimers: A Tale of the Western Insurrection of 1794, 2007, page 18,

     We didn't al'ays stay here, but wair on the wing here and thar where game was most plentiful, and often in company with the Mingoes, who wair our sworn fri'nds an' allies.

References

Anagrams

• Wari, iWar, wari

Gothic

Romanization

wair

1. Romanization of ????????????????

Sika

Noun

wair

1. water

References

• Blust's Austronesian Comparative Dictionary

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wai?r/

Noun

wair

1. Soft mutation of gwair.

Mutation