Wonder

Pronunciation

• RP IPA: /ˈwÊŒndÉ™/
• US IPA: /ˈwÊŒndÉš/
• Rhymes: -ÊŒndÉ™(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: won + der

Origin

From Middle English wonder, wunder, from Old English wundor ("wonder, miracle, marvel, portent, horror; wondrous thing, monster"), from Proto-Germanic *wundrą ("miracle, wonder"), from Proto-Indo-European *wen- ("to wish for, desire, strive for, win, love"). Cognate with Scots wunner ("wonder"), West Frisian wonder, wûnder ("wonder, miracle"), Dutch wonder ("miracle, wonder"), Low German wunner, wunder ("wonder"), German Wunder ("miracle, wonder"), Danish and Swedish under ("wonder, miracle"), Icelandic undur ("wonder"). Possible extra-Germanic cognate include Albanian ëndërr ("dream, wonder") geg var. andër, ondër.

The verb is from Old English wundrian, which is from the noun wundor ("wonder, miracle, marvel"), as above.

Full definition of wonder

Noun

1. Something that causes amazement or awe; a marvel.
   Wonders of the World seem to come in sevens.
• 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, Mr. Pratt's Patients Chapter 8, That concertina was a wonder in its way. The handles that was on it first was wore out long ago, and he'd made new ones of braided rope yarn. And the bellows was patched in more places than a cranberry picker's overalls.
2. Something astonishing and seemingly inexplicable.
   The idea was so crazy that it is a wonder that anyone went along with it.
3. Someone very talented at something, a genius.
   He's a wonder at cooking.
4. The sense or emotion which can be inspired by something curious or unknown; surprise; astonishment.
• Plato, Theætetus (section 155d)Socrates: I see, my dear Theaetetus, that Theodorus had a true insight into your nature when he said that you were a philosopher, for wonder is the feeling of a philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder. He was not a bad genealogist who said that Iris (the messenger of heaven) is the child of Thaumas (wonder).
• Bible, Acts iii. 10They were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.
• 1781, Samuel Johnson, The Lives of the Most Eminent English PoetsAll wonder is the effect of novelty upon ignorance.
5. (UK, informal) A mental pondering, a thought.
• 1934, Katharine Tynan, The house of dreamsMiss Paynter had a little wonder as to whether the man, as she called Mr. Lacy in her own mind, had ever been admitted to this room. She thought not.

Derived terms

Verb

1. To be affected with surprise or admiration; to be struck with astonishment; to be amazed; to marvel.
• Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's TravelsI could not sufficiently wonder at the intrepidity of these diminutive mortals.
• JohnsonWe cease to wonder at what we understand.
• 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 4, The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on an afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track. The three returned wondering and charmed with Mrs. Cooke; they were sure she had had no hand in the furnishing of that atrocious house.
2. To ponder; to feel doubt and curiosity; to wait with uncertain expectation; to query in the mind.
• William ShakespeareI wonder, in my soul,
  What you would ask me, that I should deny.
3. I wonder whether penguins can fly.

Derived terms

• wonderer

Anagrams

• downer