Wander and Wind Are Related
To wander is to move without a fixed course. The word shares a root with wind and wend, all of them about turning.
To wander is to move about without a settled route. It belongs to a small family built on a Germanic root meaning to turn: *wind* the verb, as in a winding road, and *wend*, which survives only in *wend your way* — and, oddly, in *went*, which was originally the past tense of *wend* and was borrowed by *go*.
- To move aimlessly. *They wandered through the market.*
- To stray. *His attention wandered.*
- To meander. *The river wanders across the plain.*
- Wanderlust — a strong urge to travel. *Struck by wanderlust.*
- Wander off — to leave without being noticed. *The dog wandered off.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb | wander | Wander about. |
| Past | wandered | She wandered off. |
| Agent | wanderer | A lone wanderer. |
| Noun | wandering | Aimless wandering. |
| Related | wend | Wend your way. |
- We wandered for an hour without a map.Movement.
- My mind wandered during the talk.Attention.
- Wanderlust took her across three continents.The German borrowing.
Why went is the past of go
- Go — its own Old English past tense was *eode*
- Wend — meaning to turn or proceed, had the past tense *went*
- Speakers borrowed went for go and dropped eode entirely
- Wend survives almost only in wend your way
- This is called suppletion — filling a gap in one verb from another
Old English *wandrian*, to move about, from a Proto-Germanic root meaning to turn, related to *wind* and *wend*.
Why is the past tense of go went?
Went was originally the past tense of wend. English borrowed it for go and lost the old form eode.
What is wanderlust?
A strong desire to travel. It is a German compound, wandern plus Lust, borrowed into English around 1900.