Wench
noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A girl or young woman, especially a buxom or lively one. archaic, dialectal, humorous, offensive, possibly
"Jane played the role of a wench in an Elizabethan comedy."
- 2 informal terms for a (young) woman wordnet
- 3 A girl or young woman, especially a buxom or lively one.; A girl or young woman of a lower class. archaic, dialectal, humorous, offensive, possibly, specifically
"The woman is a brazen, hard-looking wench, a female pedlar, who hawks needles, thread, cheap looking-glasses, pious pictures, almanacs, hair-pins, ballads, of the most humble pattern, through the country."
- 4 Used as a term of endearment for a female person, especially a wife, daughter, or girlfriend: darling, sweetheart. archaic, dialectal
"When I am dead, good Wench, / Let me be vs'd with Honor; ſtrew me ouer / With Maiden Flowers, that all the world may know / I was a chaſte Wife, to my Graue: [...]"
- 5 A woman servant; a maidservant. archaic
"When they had kyndled a fyre in the myddes of the palys / and were sett doune to gedder / Peter alsoo sate doune amonge them. And won off the wenches / as he sate / beholde him by the light and sett goode eyesight on him / and sayde: This same was also with hym. Then he denyed hym sayinge: Woman I knowe hym nott."
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- 6 A promiscuous woman; a mistress (“other woman in an extramarital relationship”). archaic
"2 [Friar Bernardine]. Thou haſt committed— / Bar[abas]. Fornication? but that was in another Country; And beſides, the Wench is dead."
- 7 A prostitute. archaic
- 8 A black woman (of any age), especially if in a condition of servitude. US, archaic, historical
"Nancy Basset, 28, likely wench, mulatto / Proved to be free. / Certified free as per General Birch Certificate. / / Patience Jackson, 23, very likely wench, mulatto / Says she was born free Rhode Island. / Certified free as per General Birch Certificate."
- 1 To frequent prostitutes; to whore; also, to womanize. archaic, humorous, intransitive
"This is ſure ſome hide-bound ſtudent, that proportions his expence by his penſion; and wencheth at Tottenham court for ſtewed prunes and cheeſcakes."
- 2 frequent prostitutes wordnet
- 3 To act as a wench. archaic, intransitive
"λαικάζω (laikázō), to wench"
Example
More examples"He cried aloud before all the company that he would that very night render his body and soul to the Powers of Evil if he might but overtake the wench."
Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English wench, wenche (“female baby; girl (especially unmarried); maiden, young woman; bondwoman; serving maid; beloved, sweetheart; concubine, mistress; harlot, prostitute”) [and other forms], a shortened form of Middle English wenchel (“girl; maiden; child”), from Old English wenċel, winċel (“child; servant; slave”), from Proto-Germanic *wankilą, from Proto-Germanic *wankijaną (“to sway; waver”). The English word is cognate with Old High German wenken (“to waver; to give way, yield”), wankōn (“to totter”). The verb is derived from the noun.
Related phrases
More for "wench"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.