Watch

How to spell watch

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce watch

What does watch mean?

1. verbTo look at someone or something attentively over a period of time.
2. nounA small device worn on the wrist or carried in a pocket that shows the time.
3. nounA period of duty during which a person stays alert to guard or observe, especially on a ship.

Watch in a sentence

• verb

  She likes to watch the news before going to work.

• noun

  He checked his watch and realised the meeting had already started.

• noun

  The sailor took the night watch from midnight until four.

• verb

  Please watch the children while i answer the door.

• noun

  The leather band of her watch needed replacing.

• noun

  A sentry kept watch over the gate throughout the storm.

Where does watch come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a native English word that traces back to the Old English verb wæccan, meaning 'to be awake' or 'to keep watch', and to the related noun wæcce for a vigil or a period of staying alert. It shares an ancestor with the verb 'wake', and both come from a Germanic root meaning 'to be lively or watchful'. For centuries the word carried the idea of staying awake to guard something, so a 'watch' was a turn of duty during the night, which is why sailors still divide the day into watches. The modern sense of a small timepiece worn on the wrist grew from this guarding sense in the 1500s, originally describing a clock that woke a sleeper or marked the hours of a vigil. The spelling keeps the awkward 'tch' cluster that English uses after a short vowel, which is the only real trap in an otherwise plain word.

How the word is built

• watch (from Old English wæccan: to be awake, to keep guard)