Wight

Pronunciation

• enPR: wÄ«t, IPA: /waɪt/
• Rhymes: -aɪt
• Homophones: wite, white (in accents with the wine-whine merger)

From Middle English, from Old English wiht ("wight, person, creature, being, whit, thing, something, anything"), from Proto-Germanic *wihtiz ("essence, object"), from Proto-Indo-European *wekti- ("cause, sake, thing"), from Proto-Indo-European *wekÊ·- ("to say, tell"). Cognate with Old High German wiht ("creature, thing")

Merriam-Webster, 1974.

, Dutch wicht, German Wicht, Swedish vätte. See also whit.

The meaning of the wraith-like creature is from barrow-wights in J. R. R. Tolkien's world.

Full definition of wight

Noun

1. (archaic) A living creature, especially a human being.
• circa 1602, William Shakespeare, , Act i, sc. 3:O base Hungarian wight! wilt thou the spigot wield?
• 1626, John Milton, , verse viOh say me true if thou wert mortal wight
  And why from us so quickly thou didst take thy flight.
2. (paganism) A being of one of the Nine Worlds of heathen belief, especially a nature spirit, elf or ancestor.
3. (poetic) A ghost or other supernatural entity.
• 1789, William Blake, , lines 14-15-16But I saw a glow-worm near,
  Who replied: ‘What wailing wight
  Calls the watchman of the night?
4. (fantasy) A wraith-like creature.

From Middle English, from Old Norse vígt, neuter of vígr ("skilled in fighting, of age"), cognate with Old English wīġ

Merriam-Webster, 1974.

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Adjective

adjective

1. (archaic except in dialects) Brave, valorous, strong.
• 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book XVIII:‘if hit please you, he shall ryde with you unto that justis, for he ys of hys age stronge and wyght.’
2. (UK dialectal) Strong; stout; active.