Wrixlings

Here’s a great prefix: wan-. It is the affixed form of the adjective wane (related to the verb wane). It is “a prefix expressing privation or negation (approximately equivalent to UN- prefix or MIS- prefix)”, so says the OED. It was very common in Old English, but had more-or-less wholly died out by Middle English. I think it’s a great little affix and could be brought back to life as a useful variant to distinguish it from un– and mis– words; perhaps we could use it as a like-for-like (=equivalent) of “anti-“… We might need to say it the stressed way, though: wane.

How many words do you think you can make up using this affix? Do people understand you? Here are some great English words that have this prefix — sadly, all of these words are no longer in use.

• wanbody n miscreant, infidel (“body” as in “anybody”, meaning “any person/individual”)
• wandought n, adj (said as “won-dawt”) a feeble or puny person; feeble, ineffective, worthless
• wanhap n misfortune (think “mishap”, “hap” meaning “luck, chance”)
• wanhope n, adj, v despair, hopelessness; to despair; despairing.
• wanhue v to stain (that is, to give a bad hue/colour to a thing)
• wanluck n unhappy fate
• wansome adj miserable, unhappy
• wanspeed n ill-success, adversity, poverty (think speed as in God speed).
• wanthriven adj failing to thrive, stunted
• wanton n, adj as in… wanton(!)
• wantruke n failure, doubt (from wan– + troke “to fail, lack, deceive”)
• wantrust n distrust, doubt
  • Why did we ever bother to borrow doubt when we had wantrust and mistrust? We also had twēo and twēogan/twēonian in Old English using the root for “two”, just like in German! So why not even something like “twofulness”?
• wantruth n lack of belief, especially proper Christian belief, a state of unbelief
• wanweird n ill-fate, misfortune
  • Weird is the original English word for “fate, destiny”, hence the Weird Sisters in Shakespeare.
• wanwit n foolishness, witlessness; a foolish or witless person;
• wanworth n, adj a price below the real value, an undervalue, a bargain; a worthless person, a good-for-nothing, a trifle; worthless, unworthy.

Now you only have to work out if you say “wan” to rhyme with “can” or “con”.

© 2017 Bryan A. J. Parry

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