waist

English

Alternative forms

• waste, wast (obsolete)

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English wast (“waist”), probably from Old English *wæst, *wǣst, *weaxt, *wæhst, from Proto-West Germanic *wahstu, from Proto-Germanic *wahstuz (“growth, development, stature, build”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂weg-s- (“to multiply, increase”). Cognate with Middle English wacste (“growth, increase, might, power”), Middle High German wahst (“growth”), Danish vækst (“growth”), Swedish växt (“growth, development, size”), Icelandic vöxtur (“growth”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌷𐍃𐍄𐌿𐍃 (wahstus, “growth”). Related to Old English weaxan (“to grow, increase”). More at wax.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /weɪst/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪst
• Homophone: waste

Noun

waist (plural waists)

2. (anatomy) The part of the body between the pelvis and the stomach.
4. A part of a piece of clothing that covers the waist.
5. The narrow connection between the thorax and abdomen in certain insects (e.g., bees, ants and wasps).
6. The middle portion of the hull of a ship or the fuselage of an aircraft.
7. (nautical) That part of the upper deck of a ship between the quarterdeck and the forecastle.
   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 18”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

     There he stood, very quietly overlooking some sailmakers who were mending a top-sail in the waist.

8. The middle part of anything.

   The waist of a bell widens into the lip.

   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:

     In the dead vast and middle of the night

Derived terms

• dropped waist
• drop waist
• emancipation waist
• empire-waist
• empire waist
• pantywaist
• paperbag waist
• sheer-to-waist
• shirt waist
• shirt-waist
• shirtwaist
• snatched waist
• strip to the waist
• waist bag
• waistband
• waist chain
• waist cincher
• waistcoat
• waist-deep
• waist-deep in the Big Muddy
• waist-high
• waistless
• waistline
• waist overalls
• wasp waist

 

Descendants

• → Japanese: ウエスト (uesuto)

Translations

part of the body

• Albanian: bel (sq) m
• Arabic: خَصْر m (ḵaṣr), وَسَط m (wasaṭ)

  Egyptian Arabic: وسط m (wesṭ)

• Armenian: իրան (hy) (iran), գոտկատեղ (hy) (gotkateġ)
• Azerbaijani: bel (az), qurşaq (az)
• Bashkir: бил (bil)
• Basque: gerri (eu)
• Belarusian: та́лія f (tálija)
• Bhojpuri: कमर (kamar)
• Bikol Central: abayan, iksan
• Breton: dargreiz (br) m, bandenn (br) f
• Brunei Malay: pinggang
• Bulgarian: та́лия f (tálija)
• Burmese: ခါး (my) (hka:)
• Catalan: cintura (ca) f
• Cebuano: hawak
• Chichewa: chiuno
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 腰 (zh) (yāo), 腰部 (zh) (yāobù)

• Coptic: ϯⲡⲓ f (tipi)
• Czech: pas (cs) m
• Danish: talje c
• Dutch: middel (nl) n
• Esperanto: talio (eo)
• Estonian: vöökoht
• Finnish: vyötärö (fi)
• French: taille (fr) f
• Galician: cintura (gl) f, van (gl) m, cós m
• Georgian: წელი (ka) (c̣eli)
• German: Taille (de) f
• Greek: μέση (el) f (mési)

  Ancient: ἰξύς f (ixús)

• Gujarati: કમર (gu) (kamar)
• Hawaiian: pūhaka
• Hebrew: מֹתֶן (he) m (moten)
• Hiligaynon: hawak
• Hindi: कमर (hi) f (kamar)
• Hungarian: derék (hu)
• Icelandic: mitti (is) n
• Ido: tayo (io)
• Indonesian: pinggang (id)
• Ingrian: vöönkohta
• Iquito: acajinacúraji
• Italian: vita (it) f, cintura (it) f, cintola (it) f
• Japanese: 胴のくびれ (どうのくびれ, dō no kubire), 腰部 (ja) (ようぶ, yōbu), 胴回り (ja) (どうまわり, dōmawari)
• Kabuverdianu: sintura
• Kannada: ಸೊಂಟ (kn) (soṇṭa)
• Kapampangan: awakan
• Kazakh: бел (bel)
• Khiamniungan Naga: ùm
• Khmer: ចង្កេះ (km) (cɑngkeh)
• Kinaray-a: hawak
• Korean: 허리 (ko) (heori)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: کەمەر (kemer)

  Northern Kurdish: navteng (ku) f, newq (ku) f

• Kyrgyz: бел (ky) (bel)
• Ladino: ביל m, bel m
• Lao: ແອວ (lo) (ʼǣu)
• Latin: media pars corporis f, medium corpus n
• Latvian: viduklis m, jostasvieta f
• Lithuanian: juosmuo ?
• Macedonian: појас (mk) m (pojas)
• Malay: pinggang (ms)
• Malayalam: ഇടുപ്പ് (ml) (iṭuppŭ)
• Maltese: qadd
• Manchu: ᡩᠠᡵᠠ (dara), ᡩᠠᡵᠠᠮᠠ (darama)
• Mansaka: awak
• Maori: please add this translation if you can
• Middle English: wast
• Mingrelian: ოჭიში (oč̣iši)
• Miyako: ヨーラ (jōra)
• Mongolian: бэлхүүс (mn) (belxüüs)
• Navajo: anííʼ
• Nepali: कटि (ne) (kaṭi), कम्मर (ne) (kammar)
• Norwegian: midje ?
• Odia: please add this translation if you can
• Old Turkic: 𐰋𐰃𐰠 (bél)
• Ottoman Turkish: بل (bel), خصر (hasr)
• Persian: کمر (fa) (kamar)
• Plautdietsch: Kjnäp f, Weest f, Taulj f
• Polish: talia (pl) f, pas (pl) m
• Portuguese: cintura (pt) f
• Romani: mashkar m
• Romanian: talie (ro) f, mijloc (ro) n
• Russian: та́лия (ru) f (tálija)
• Scottish Gaelic: meadhan m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: по̏ја̄с m

  Roman: pȍjās (sh) m

• Sicilian: vita (scn) f, cintu m
• Slovak: pás m
• Slovene: pas (sl) m
• Spanish: cintura (es) f, cinto (es) m, talle (es) m
• Sundanese: angkeng
• Svan: ლა̄რტყა (lārṭq̇a), ჯაჭა̈რ (ǯač̣är)
• Swahili: kiuno (sw)
• Swedish: midja (sv) ?
• Tagalog: baywang (tl), bewang (tl)
• Tajik: камар (tg) (kamar), миён (tg) (miyon)
• Tamil: இடுப்பு (ta) (iṭuppu)
• Telugu: నడుము (te) (naḍumu)
• Thai: เอว (th) (eeo), สะเอว (th) (sà-eeo), กะเอว (th) (gà-eeo), บั้นเอว (th)
• Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
• Tooro: embaju class 10
• Turkish: bel (tr)
• Turkmen: bil (tk)
• Tuvan: бел кежик (bel kejik), бел кеш (bel keş), бел кежи (bel keji)
• Ukrainian: та́лія f (tálija)
• Urdu: کمر f (kamar)
• Uyghur: بەل (bel)
• Uzbek: bel (uz)
• Vietnamese: eo (vi), eo lưng (vi)
• Welsh: gwasg m
• White Hmong: please add this translation if you can
• Yakut: биил (biil)
• Yami: kawakan
• Yiddish: טאַליע f (talye)
• Zazaki: mér
• Zhuang: hwet

part of a piece of clothing that covers the waist

• Bulgarian: корсаж m (korsaž)
• Danish: talje c
• Finnish: vyötärö (fi)
• French: taille (fr) f, ceinture (fr) f
• Hawaiian: pākana
• Icelandic: mitti (is) n
• Ingrian: vöönkohta
• Polish: pas (pl) m
• Russian: по́яс (ru) m (pójas), лиф (ru) m (lif) (bodice)
• Scottish Gaelic: meadhan m
• Sicilian: cigna (scn) f, curriva f, cintu m
• Spanish: cintura (es) f

narrow connection between the thorax and abdomen in certain insects

• Danish: hvepsetalje c
• Finnish: vyötärö (fi)
• French: taille (fr) f

middle portion of the hull of a ship or the fuselage of an aircraft

• Estonian: kesktekk
• Finnish: keskirunko
• German: Rumpf (de) m
• Hungarian: törzs (hu)
• Russian: шкафу́т (ru) m (škafút)

nautical: upper deck of a ship between the quarterdeck and the forecastle

middle part of anything

• Finnish: keskiosa

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Breton: ^{(please verify)} bandenn (br) f
• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} middendek n
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} vita (it) f

Further reading

• Waist in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)
• Waist on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Waits, waits, Swati, Wasit

Gothic

Romanization

waist

1. Romanization of 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍃𐍄

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

waist

1. Alternative form of wast (“waste (noun)”)

Etymology 2

Noun

waist

1. Alternative form of wast (“waist”)

Etymology 3

Verb

waist

1. Alternative form of wasten

Scots

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English wast (“waist”), probably from Old English *wæst, *wæxt, from Proto-West Germanic *wahstī, form Proto-Germanic *wahstuz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /west/
• (Doric Scots) IPA^(key): /wəist/

Noun

waist (plural waists)

1. waist