wealth

noun
/wɛlθ/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English welth, welthe (“happiness, prosperity”), from Old English *welþ, *welþu, from Proto-West Germanic *waliþu (“wealth”). Alternatively, possibly an alteration (due to similar words in -th: compare helth (“health”), derth (“dearth”)) of wele (“wealth, well-being, weal”), from Old English wela (“wealth, prosperity”), from Proto-Germanic *walô (“well-being, prosperity”), from Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“good, best”); equivalent to weal + -th (abstract nominal suffix). Cognate with West Frisian wielde (“wealth”), Dutch weelde (“wealth”), Low German Weelde (“wealth”), Old High German welida, welitha (“wealth”). Related also to German Wohl (“welfare, well-being, weal”), Danish vel (“weal, welfare”), Swedish väl (“well-being, weal”). More at weal, well.

  1. derived from *wel- — “good, best
  2. inherited from *walô — “well-being, prosperity
  3. inherited from wela — “wealth, prosperity
  4. inherited from *waliþu — “wealth
  5. inherited from *welþ
  6. inherited from welth

Definitions

  1. Riches

    Riches; a great amount of valuable assets or material possessions.

    • Money talks, but true wealth whispers.
  2. A great amount

    A great amount; an abundance or plenty.

    • She brings a wealth of knowledge to the project.
    • There is a wealth of carved wood inside: from pulpit to pews, screens to lectern, and a large medieval chest made from a hollowed-out log of bog-oak with a massive lid.
  3. Prosperity

    Prosperity; well-being; happiness.

    • I once did lend my body for his wealth, / Which, but for him that had your husband's ring, / Had quite miscarried: […]
    • Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at wealth. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01wealth02prosperity03prosperous04affluent05plenteous06abundant07wealthy

A definitional loop anchored at wealth. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

7 hops · closes at wealth

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA