Want

How to spell want

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce want

What does want mean?

1. verbTo wish for or feel a desire to have or do something.
2. nounA lack or absence of something needed.

Want in a sentence

• verb

  Many people want a quieter place to work from home.

• noun

  The project stalled for want of proper funding.

• verb

  Travellers often want clear refund rules before they book.

• noun

  For want of a better term, the report called the gap a shortfall.

Where does want come from?

Language of origin: Old Norse

Want came into English from Old Norse, where the verb vanta meant 'to lack' or 'to be missing', and it is closely tied to the adjective vanr, meaning 'lacking'. Scandinavian settlers brought the word into northern England, and it took hold in the centuries after the Viking presence, gradually pushing into wider use. Its earliest English sense was the very practical one of being short of something or going without it, as in suffering from want of food. Only later did the meaning soften from 'to lack' into the everyday 'to desire', since wishing for a thing and lacking it are two sides of the same experience. That older sense survives in fixed phrases such as 'for want of a better word' and 'waste not, want not', which still mean lack rather than desire. Because it is a short, regular Germanic-style word, its spelling has stayed simple and stable.

How the word is built

• want (from Old Norse vanta: to lack, be wanting), used as a complete root with no affixes