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Wikipedia

Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Pronunciation 1.3 Verb 1.4 Anagrams 1.5 See also 2 Dutch 2.1 Etymology 1 2.1.1 Noun 2.1.2 Verb 2.1.3 Derived terms 2.2 Etymology 2 2.2.1 Noun 2.2.2 Verb 2.2.3 Derived terms 2.3 Etymology 3 2.3.1 Verb 3 German 3.1 Etymology 3.2 Pronunciation 3.3 Pronoun 3.3.1 Derived terms 4 Polish 4.1 Pronoun 5 Scots 5.1 Noun

[ English

Rank of this word in the English language, from analyzing texts from Project Gutenberg.
in	I	that	#8: was	he	his	with

[ Etymology

From Old English wæs, Germanic *wêsôn, cognate with German war < Proto-Indo-European *wes- "to reside". The paradigm of "to be" has been since the time of Proto-Germanic a synthesis of three originally distinct verb stems. The infinitive form "to be" is from Proto-Indo-European *bHeu- "to become". The words "is" and "are" are both derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₁es- "to be". Lastly, the past forms starting with "w-" such as "was" and "were" are from Proto-Indo-European *wes- "to reside".

[ Pronunciation

stressed

• (UK) enPR: wŏz, IPA: /wɒz/, SAMPA: /wQz/
• (US) enPR: wŭz, IPA: /wʌz/, SAMPA: /wVz/
•  Audio (US)^{help, file}

  Rhymes: -ɒz

unstressed

• enPR: wəz, IPA: /wəz/, SAMPA: /w@z/
•  Audio (US)^{help, file} (in thee phrase "I was there")

[ Verb

was

1. First-person singular simple past tense indicative of be.
2. Third-person singular simple past tense indicative of be.

[ Anagrams

• saw

[ See also

am are is art be being

been beest wast were wert

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[ Dutch

[ Etymology 1

cognate with wash

[ Noun

was (plural wassen, diminutive wasje) m.

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

[ Verb

was

1. Present tense singular 1st person of wassen (meaning to wash).

[ Derived terms

• afwas, afwassen
• wasbord

[ Etymology 2

cognate with wax

[ Noun

was m.

1. wax, what bees produce to make their housing from.
2. growth, increasing in size and/or volume.

[ Verb

was

1. Present tense singular 1st person of wassen (another meaning is to grow).

[ Derived terms

• gewas n.
• uitwas
• uit de kluiten gewassen

[ Etymology 3

cognate with was

[ Verb

was

1. Past tense singular of zijn/wezen.

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[ German

[ Etymology

Old High German (h)waz, originally *(h)wat, compare Dutch wat.

[ Pronunciation

•  audio^{help, file}

[ Pronoun

was

1. (interrogative) what
2. (relative) which

[ Derived terms

• was für

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[ Polish

[ Pronoun

was

1. Genitive, accusative and locative of wy (you, plural).

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[ Scots

[ Noun

was (plural)

1. Plural form of wa.