different between was vs wads

English

Alternative forms

• wus
• wuz

Etymology

From Middle English was, from Old English wæs, from Proto-Germanic *was, (compare Scots was, West Frisian was (dated, wie is generally preferred today), Dutch was, Low German was, German war, Swedish var), from Proto-Indo-European *h?wes- (“to reside”), whence also vestal. The paradigm of “to be” has been since the time of Proto-Germanic a synthesis of three originally distinct verb stems. The infinitive form be is from Proto-Indo-European *b?uH- (“to become”). The forms is and are are both derived from Proto-Indo-European *h?es- (“to be”). Lastly, the past forms starting with w- such as was and were are from Proto-Indo-European *h?wes- (“to reside”).

Pronunciation

(stressed)

• (UK, General New Zealand) enPR: w?z, w?z, IPA^(key): /w?z/, /w?z/
• (US) enPR: w?z, w?z, IPA^(key): /w?z/, /w?z/
• (General Australian) enPR: w?z, IPA^(key): /w?z/
• Rhymes: -?z, -?z

(unstressed)

• (UK, US) enPR: w?z, IPA^(key): /w?z/
• (in the phrase “I was there.”)

Verb

was

1. first-person singular simple past indicative of be.

2. third-person singular simple past indicative of be.
   • 1915, John Millington Synge, The Playboy of the Western World, I:

     I killed my poor father, Tuesday was a week, for doing the like of that.
3. (now colloquial) Used in phrases with existential there when the semantic subject is (usually third-person) plural.
4. (now colloquial or nonstandard) second-person singular simple past indicative of be.
   • 1748, Samuel Richardson, Clarissa, Letter 33:

     You was pleased to cast a favourable eye upon me.
5. (colloquial, nonstandard) first-person plural simple past indicative of be
6. (colloquial, nonstandard) third-person plural simple past indicative of be

Derived terms

• wasband
• wasbian

See also

Anagrams

• ASW, AWS, SAW, Saw, aws, saw

Afrikaans

Noun

was (uncountable)

1. wax

Verb

was

1. past of wees

Verb

was (present was, present participle wassende, past participle gewas)

1. to wash

Banda

Noun

was

1. water

References

• "Elat, Kei Besar" in Greenhill, S.J., Blust, R., & Gray, R.D. (2008). The Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database: From Bioinformatics to Lexomics. Evolutionary Bioinformatics, 4:271-283.

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??s/
• Rhymes: -?s

Etymology 1

Cognate with English wash.

Noun

was m (plural wassen, diminutive wasje n)

1. laundry, clothes that need to be washed, or just have been washed.

Verb

was

1. first-person singular present indicative of wassen
2. imperative of wassen

Etymology 2

From Old Dutch *was, from Proto-Germanic *wahs?. Cognate with German Wachs, English wax, Danish voks, Swedish vax.

Noun

was m or n (plural wassen)

1. wax
2. growth

Verb

was

1. first-person singular present indicative of wassen
2. imperative of wassen

Derived terms

Etymology 3

Cognate with English was.

Verb

was

1. singular past indicative of zijn
2. singular past indicative of wezen

Anagrams

• swa

German

Alternative forms

• wat (colloquial in western and parts of northern Germany)

Etymology

From Middle High German waz, from Old High German waz, hwaz, from Proto-Germanic *hwat, from Proto-Indo-European *k?od. Cognate with Bavarian was, wås, Silesian German woas (was), Dutch wat, English what, Danish hvad. Doublet of wat.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vas/
• (Bavaria)
• Rhymes: -as

Pronoun

was

1. (interrogative) what

2. (relative) which (referring to the entire preceding clause)

3. (relative) that, which (referring to das, alles, etwas, nichts, and neuter substantival adjectives)

4. (relative, colloquial) that, which (referring to neuter singular nouns, instead of standard das)

5. (indefinite, colloquial) something, anything (instead of standard etwas)
   • 2017, Simone Meier, Fleisch, Kein & Aber 2018, p. 39:

Usage notes

• Was is colloquially used with prepositions, chiefly but not exclusively in southern regions. Otherwise it is generally replaced with a pronominal adverb containing wo- (or in a few cases wes-). Hence: Womit hast du das gemacht? (“With what did you do that?”), instead of Mit was hast du das gemacht?, and weswegen instead of wegen was.
• The genitive case, and the dative case if necessary for clearness, can be paraphrased by means of welcher Sache (“what thing”). Possessive genitives are more commonly paraphrased with wovon (“of what”).
• The colloquial was meaning "something" can only be the first word in a sentence if followed by an adjective: Was Wichtiges fehlt noch. (“Something important is missing.”) Otherwise the full form etwas must be used: Etwas fehlt noch. (“Something is missing.”) The reason for this is that the latter sentence could be misinterpreted as a question if was were used.

Synonyms

• (why): warum; wieso; weshalb

Derived terms

• komme, was wolle
• was ist dir; was ist Dir
• was kostet es
• was zum Geier; was zum Kuckuck

• tun, was man nicht lassen kann
• was auch immer
• was der Bauer nicht kennt, das frisst er nicht
• was geht
• was gibt's Neues
• was du nicht sagst; was ihr nicht sagt; was Sie nicht sagen

Determiner

was

1. (archaic) what; what kind of
   • • 1718, Johann Caspar Schwartz, Johann Caspar Schwartzens Fünfftes Dutzend Wund-artzneyischer Anmerckungen von vielerley Arten der Geschwülste und Geschwüre, Hamburg, page 97:

       [...] denen Thieren und Gewächsen aber, von was Arten und Geschlechten selbige auch nur immer seyn mögen, [...]

     • 1742, Johann Christoph Gottsched, Versuch einer Critischen Dichtkunst, Leipzig, page 442:

       Held August, du kühner Krieger! / Du bist der beglückte Sieger, / Vor, und in, und nach dem Fall. / Auf was Arten, auf was Weisen, / Soll man deine Thaten preisen / Hier und da, und überall?

     • 1786, Johann Michael Schosulan, Gründlicher Unterricht für das Landvolk: Wie und auf was Weise jedermann seinen etrunkenen, erhängten, erstickten, erfrornen, von Hitze verschmachteten und von Blitz berührten unglücklichen Nebenmenschen Hülfe leisten, der Retter aber für sein eigenes Leben sich selbst sicher stellen solle., Wien, title:

       Wie und auf was Weise jedermann seinen [...] Nebenmenschen Hülfe leisten [...] solle.

Usage notes

• In the dative and genitive feminine, the inflected form waser occurred.

Synonyms

• was für

Adverb

was

1. (colloquial) a little, somewhat

2. (interrogative, colloquial) why, what for

   Synonyms: warum, wieso, weshalb

Gothic

Romanization

was

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

Gros Ventre

Noun

was

1. bear

Hunsrik

Etymology

From Middle High German waz, from Old High German waz, hwaz, from Proto-Germanic *hwat, from Proto-Indo-European *k?od.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vas/

Pronoun

was

1. (interrogative) what

2. (relative) what

3. (indefinite) something, anything

See also

• etwas

Further reading

• Online Hunsrik Dictionary

Low German

Verb

was

1. first-person singular simple past indicative of w?sen
2. third-person singular simple past indicative of w?sen
3. apocopated form of wasse (“wash”), second-person singular imperative of wassen (mainly used in the Netherlands, equivalent to other dialects' wasche/waske)
4. apocopated form of wasse (“wax”), second-person singular imperative of wassen
5. apocopated form of wasse (“grow”), second-person singular imperative of wassen

Usage notes

Notes on the verb w?sen (to be): In recent times (~1800) the old subjunctive wer is used in place of was by many speakers. This might be the old subjunctive which is now used as a preterite or a reduction of weren, which is the preterite plural indicative of the verb. It might also be an imitation of the High German cognate war. Many smaller dialectal clusters do this, but no dialect does it. That means: even though there are many regions within e.g. Lower Saxony that use wer for was, maybe even the majority, there is no straight connection between them, i.e. which form is used can depend on preference, speaker and specific region. Due to this "one town this way, one town that way"-nature of the situation no form can be named "standard" for a greater dialect, such as Low Saxon.

Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [was]

Pronoun

was

1. genitive of wy
2. accusative of wy
3. locative of wy

Mayangna

Noun

was

1. water
2. stream, river

References

• Smith, Ethnogeography of the Mayangna of Nicaragua, in Ethno- and historical geographic studies in Latin America: essays honoring William V. Davidson (2008), page 88: The location of 46 settlements from this list containing the term ”was" —meaning "water" or "stream" — were obtained[.]

Middle Dutch

Verb

was

1. first/third-person singular past indicative of w?sen

Middle English

Etymology

From Old English wæs (first/third person singular indicative past of wesan), from Proto-Germanic *was (first/third person singular indicative past of *wesan?).

Verb

was

1. first/third-person singular past indicative of been
2. (dialectal) second-person singular past indicative of been
3. (dialectal) plural past indicative of been

Descendants

• English: was
• Scots: was, wis

Middle Low German

Alternative forms

• wass

Verb

was

1. first/third-person singular preterite indicative of w?sen

Pennsylvania German

Etymology

Compare German was, Dutch wat, English what.

Pronoun

was

1. (interrogative) what

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vas/

Pronoun

was

1. genitive of wy
2. accusative of wy
3. locative of wy

Scots

Noun

was

1. plural of wa

Seychellois Creole

Etymology

From French ouest

Noun

was

1. west

References

• Danielle D’Offay et Guy Lionnet, Diksyonner Kreol - Franse / Dictionnaire Créole Seychellois - Français

Somali

Verb

was

1. fuck

Descendants

• ? English: wass

Spanish

Etymology

From WhatsApp.

Noun

was m (plural was)

1. a message sent or received over WhatsApp

Related terms

• wasapear

Tok Pisin

Etymology

From English watch.

Verb

was

1. angel; any supernatural creature in heaven according to Christian theology

Welsh

Noun

was

1. Soft mutation of gwas.

Mutation

English

Noun

wads

1. plural of wad

Anagrams

• AWDS, AWDs, DAWs, Daws, WASD, daws, swad