different between wont vs habit

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /w??nt/, /w?nt/
• (General American) enPR: w?nt, wônt, w?nt, w?nt, IPA^(key): /w?nt/, /w?nt/, /wo?nt/, /w?nt/
• Rhymes: -??nt
• Homophone: want (some pronunciations)
• Homophone: won't (some pronunciations)

Etymology 1

Origin uncertain; apparently a conflation of wone (“custom, habit, practice”) and wont (participle adjective, below). Compare German Low German Gewohnte (“custom, habit”) and Dutch gewoonte. Likely related to wone, wonder, wean, and win, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wenh?- (“to wish for, strive for, pursue; to succeed, win”); more there.

(Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

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Noun

wont (usually uncountable, plural wonts)

1. (archaic) One's habitual way of doing things; custom, habit, practice.
   • 2001, Orhan Pamuk; Erda? M. Göknar, transl., “I am Called Black”, in My Name Is Red, London: Faber and Faber, ?ISBN; paperback edition, London: Faber and Faber, 2002, ?ISBN, page 62:

     With a simple-minded desire, and to rid my mind of this irrepressible urge, I retired to a corner of the room, as was my wont, but after a while I realized I couldn't jack off—proof well enough that I'd fallen in love again after twelve years!

Translations

See also

• meo more

Etymology 2

From Middle English wont, iwoned, from Old English ?ewunod, past participle of ?ewunian. The verb is derived from the adjective.

Adjective

wont (not comparable)

1. Accustomed or used (to or with a thing), accustomed or apt (to do something).
   • c. 1580, Edmund Spenser, “The Teares of the Mvses[: Thalia]”, in Complaints: Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. VVhereof the Next Page Maketh Mention, London: Imprinted for VVilliam Ponsonbie, dwelling in Paules Churchyard at the signe of the Bishops head, published 1591, ?OCLC; republished in “The Teares of the Mvses[: Thalia]”, in The Faerie Qveen: The Shepheards Calendar: Together with the Other Works of England's Arch-Pöet, Edm. Spenser: Collected into One Volume, and Carefully Corrected, London: Printed by H[umphrey] L[ownes] for Mathew Lownes, 1617, ?OCLC:

     What be the ?weet delights of learning a trea?ure, / That wont with Comick ?ock to beautify / The painted Theaters, and fill with plea?ure / The li?tners eyes, and eares with melodie; […]

Derived terms

• unwont
• use and wont
• wontly

Translations

See also

• prone to
• used to

Verb

wont (third-person singular simple present wonts, present participle wonting, simple past and past participle wonted)

1. (transitive, archaic) To make (someone) used to; to accustom.
2. (intransitive, archaic) To be accustomed (to something), to be in the habit (of doing something).
   • 1751, [Thomas Gray], An Elegy Wrote in a Country Church-yard, London: Printed for R[obert] Dodsley in Pall-Mall; and sold by M[ary] Cooper in Pater-noster-Row, ?OCLC; republished as “An Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard”, in A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands, volume IV, 2nd edition, London: Printed by J. Hughs, for R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley, at Tully's-Head in Pall-Mall, 1758, ?OCLC, page 5:

     On ?ome fond brea?t the parting ?oul relies, / Some pious drops the clo?ing eye requires; / Ev'n from the tomb the voice of Nature cries, / Ev'n in our A?hes live their wonted Fires.

Translations

Anagrams

• Town, nowt, town

Middle English

Alternative forms

• wonte, wontt, woont

Etymology

From Old English wand, wond, from Proto-Germanic *wanduz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /w?nt/, /w??nt/

Noun

wont (plural wontes)

1. mole (Talpa europea)

   Synonyms: moldewarpe, molle

Descendants

• English: want (dialectal)
• Scots: want

References

• “wont(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?hæb?t/
• (weak vowel merger) IPA^(key): /?hæb?t/
• Rhymes: -æb?t

Etymology 1

From Middle English habit, from Latin habitus (“condition, bearing, state, appearance, dress, attire”), from habe? (“I have, hold, keep”). Replaced Middle English abit, from Old French abit, itself from the same Latin source. Displaced native Old English þ?aw.

Noun

habit (countable and uncountable, plural habits)

1. An action performed on a regular basis.

   Synonym: wont

   • a man of very shy, retired habits

2. An action performed repeatedly and automatically, usually without awareness.

3. A long piece of clothing worn by monks and nuns.

4. A piece of clothing worn uniformly for a specific activity.

5. (archaic) Outward appearance; attire; dress.
   • There are, among the statues, several of Venus, in different habits.
6. (botany, mineralogy) Form of growth or general appearance of a variety or species of plant or crystal.
7. An addiction.

Related terms

• exhibit
• habitual
• habituate
• habitus
• inhibit
• prohibit

Derived terms

• eating habit

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English habiten, from Old French habiter, from Latin habit?re, present active infinitive of habit? (“I dwell, abide, keep”), frequentative of habe? (“I have, hold, keep”); see have.

Verb

habit (third-person singular simple present habits, present participle habiting, simple past and past participle habited)

1. (transitive) To clothe.
2. (transitive, archaic) To inhabit.

Related terms

• habitat
• habitation

Translations

Further reading

• habit in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• habit in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Ba'thi

Albanian

Etymology

According to Orel, borrowed from a South Slavic language and ultimately derived from Proto-Slavic *xabiti (“to spoil, to waste”). Compare Old Church Slavonic ?????? (xabiti), Serbo-Croatian habiti (“damage, destroy”), and Bulgarian ???? (habja, “destroy, spend; blunt”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ha?bit/

Verb

habit (first-person singular past tense habita, participle habitur)

1. I surprise
2. I astonish
3. (Gheg; northern Albania and Kosovo) I distract, confuse

Derived terms

• habi
• habitshëm
• habitur
• habitje
• habitore

References

French

Etymology

From Old French habit, abit, borrowed from Latin habitus.

Pronunciation

• ^{(mute h)} IPA^(key): /a.bi/

Noun

habit m (plural habits)

1. article of clothing, garment, dress-coat, evening dress, tails, full dress

Derived terms

• l'habit ne fait pas le moine

Related terms

• habiller
• habillement

Descendants

• ? German: Habit

Further reading

• “habit” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Old French

Noun

habit m (oblique plural habiz or habitz, nominative singular habiz or habitz, nominative plural habit)

1. Alternative form of abit

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?xa.b?it/

Noun

habit m inan

1. habit (clothing worn by monks and nuns)

Declension