entry
window
/ˈwɪndoʊ/An opening admitting light, air, or a view
From O.Norse and Germanic wind (Moving air) + O.Norse and Germanic eye (Eye).
from Old Norse vindauga (Old Danish vindue )
+1 more sourcefrom Middle English wyndowe, wyndown
Word Ancestry
from Old Norse vindauga (Old Danish vindue )
+1 more sourcefrom Middle English wyndowe, wyndown
Picture a Viking house in the North Atlantic: no glass, no neat little panes, just a hole in the wall or roof where the weather could wander in. The Norse called this a vindauga—literally a “wind-eye,” with vindr meaning “wind” and auga meaning “eye.” English adopted the compound around 1200, replacing native Old English terms such as ēagþȳrel, or “eye-hole.” Wait, really? The familiar word for a glazed pane began life describing an opening that was specifically good at admitting drafts. As glass windows spread through medieval buildings, the old “wind-eye” name stayed, while the rival Latin-based fenester gradually disappeared from English. So every time you look through a window, you are looking through a fossilized Viking metaphor: an eye in the wall, originally designed less to show you the world than to let the wind in.
The Story
Picture a Viking house in the North Atlantic: no glass, no neat little panes, just a hole in the wall or roof where the weather could wander in. The Norse called this a vindauga—literally a “wind-eye,” with vindr meaning “wind” and auga meaning “eye.” English adopted the compound around 1200, replacing native Old English terms such as ēagþȳrel, or “eye-hole.” Wait, really? The familiar word for a glazed pane began life describing an opening that was specifically good at admitting drafts. As glass windows spread through medieval buildings, the old “wind-eye” name stayed, while the rival Latin-based fenester gradually disappeared from English. So every time you look through a window, you are looking through a fossilized Viking metaphor: an eye in the wall, originally designed less to show you the world than to let the wind in.
Modern Usage
A derogatory term for a flirtatious or sexually provocative woman
Kin & Kindred
From 'wind'·Moving air; a current of air
Derived Terms
English words from this root
From 'eye'·Eye; an eye-like opening
Derived Terms
English words from this root