Wonder

How to spell wonder

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce wonder

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does wonder mean?

1. verbTo feel curious about something and want to know more, or to ask oneself a question silently.
2. nounA feeling of amazement and admiration, or a thing that causes such a feeling.

Wonder in a sentence

• verb

  I wonder whether the train will be on time tonight.

• noun

  The children stared in wonder at the lit-up fairground.

• verb

  Many people wonder how the company made such a quick profit.

• noun

  The ancient aqueduct remains a wonder of engineering.

Where does wonder come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a genuinely old native English word, descending from the Old English wundor, which named a marvel or an astonishing sight, something that struck the onlooker with awe. It belongs to a wider Germanic family, with close relatives in the Dutch wonder and the German Wunder, both carrying the same sense of a miracle or amazement. The verb sense, meaning to be filled with curiosity or to ask oneself a question, grew naturally out of the noun: to be in a state of wonder is to want to know. Scholars have never pinned down a deeper root beyond the Germanic group, so its ultimate origin is uncertain. The trickiest part for writers is purely sonic: the unstressed first vowel sounds the same as in the unrelated word wander (to roam), which is why the two are so often swapped.

How the word is built

• wonder (from Old English wundor: a marvel, an astonishing thing)