Waste and Vast Come From the Same Latin Word
Waste is unwanted material or careless use. Its root means empty, which also gave English vast and devastate.
Waste is unwanted material, or the careless use of resources. Latin *vastus* meant empty or desolate, and English took it twice: *waste* through Old French, and *vast* directly from Latin. A wasteland is empty land, and a vast plain is empty in a different sense — the two English words split what Latin held together. *Devastate* is the same root again, meaning to lay waste. The idiom *waste not, want not* dates from the 1700s.
- Unwanted material. *Household waste.*
- Careless use. *A waste of time.*
- Wasteland — barren ground. *A wasteland.*
- Vast — the same root. *Vast.*
- Latin — *vastus*, empty. *The source.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | waste | Waste. |
| Verb | waste | Waste it. |
| Adjective | wasteful | Wasteful. |
| Related | vast | Vast. |
| Related | devastate | Devastate. |
- Reduce household waste.Material.
- It was a waste of effort.Careless use.
- Vastus meant empty.Etymology.
The vastus family
- Waste — emptied or squandered
- Vast — vastly empty, hence huge
- Devastate — to lay waste to
- Wasteland — empty, unproductive ground
- Waste not, want not — a proverb from the 1700s
Old North French *wast*, from Latin *vastus*, empty or desolate.
Are waste and vast related?
Yes. Both come from Latin vastus, empty. Waste arrived through Old French and vast directly from Latin.
Are waste and waist related?
No. Waist comes from a Germanic root about growth and size, an entirely separate word.