wench
/wɛnt͡ʃ/ noun, verb
Forms wenches wenching wenched wenchest wenchedst wencheth wenchen
- noun (archaic, now dialectal or humorous, possibly offensive) A girl or young woman, especially a buxom or lively one. “Jane played the role of a wench in an Elizabethan comedy.”
- noun (specifically) A girl or young woman of a lower class.
- noun (archaic or dialectal) Used as a term of endearment for a female person, especially a wife, daughter, or girlfriend: darling, sweetheart.
- noun (archaic) A woman servant; a maidservant.
- noun (archaic) A promiscuous woman; a mistress (“other woman in an extramarital relationship”).
- noun (archaic) A prostitute.
- noun (US, archaic or historical) A black woman (of any age), especially if in a condition of servitude.
- verb (intransitive, archaic, now humorous) To frequent prostitutes; to whore; also, to womanize.
- verb (intransitive, archaic) To act as a wench.
Synonyms
304 alley cat alleycat amorette amoret amorosa article Athanasian wench blowsabella bop chippy cocotte cockatrice cockslut cockwhore crumpet cum dumpster cum guzzler cumhole cumslut dame doll skirt chick bird
Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English wench, wenche (“female baby; girl (especially unmarried); maiden, young woman; bondwoman; serving maid; beloved, sweetheart; concubine, mistress; harlot, prostitute”) [and other forms], a shortened form of Middle English wenchel (“girl; maiden; child”), from Old English wenċel, winċel (“child; servant; slave”), from Proto-Germanic *wankilą, from Proto-Germanic *wankijaną (“to sway; waver”). The English word is cognate with Old High German wenken (“to waver; to give way, yield”), wankōn (“to totter”).
The verb is derived from the noun.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A young woman; a girl; a maiden. Shak.
- noun A low, vicious young woman; a drab; a strumpet.
- verb To frequent the company of wenches, or women of ill fame.
Etymology [OE. wenche, for older wenchel a child, originally, weak, tottering; cf. AS. wencle a maid, a daughter, wencel a pupil, orphan, wincel, winclu, children, offspring, wencel weak, wancol unstable, OHG. wanchol; perhaps akin to E. wink. See Wink.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “wench”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details