winsome

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“
The one, Juliana, the only daughter of a retired sea-captain, he described as a winsome lassie.

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Definitions (7)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. adjective Charming, often in a childlike or naive way.
  2. Word History
    Winsome people easily win friends, so it is not surprising that winsome and win have a common root. Their shared element win- comes from the Indo-European root *wen-, meaning "to desire, strive for,” and has a number of descendants in the Germanic languages. One was the prehistoric Germanic noun *wini- meaning "friend” (literally, "one who desires or loves” someone else), which became wine in Old English and is preserved in such names as Winfred, "friend of peace,” and Edwin, "friend of (family) possessions.” A different form of the root with a different suffix became Old English wynn, "pleasure, joy,” preserved in winsome. Finally, the verb win itself is from this root; its meaning is an extension of the sense "to strive for,” namely, "to strive for with success, be victorious.” Outside of the Germanic branch of Indo-European, we see the root, for example, in Latin venus or Venus "love, the goddess of love,” and the verb venerāre, "to worship,” the source of English venerate.

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Examples (50)

  • They are not cool, contemporary, relatable, winsome, attractive. —  CAMPONTHIS
  • Next up is Dennen's winsome, slightly funky first single "Make You Crazy", featuring a backing turn from Femi Kuti. —  PopMatters
  • My hope is that my life reflects that narrow gate in a winsome, invitational way. —  relevantblog
  • It used to be easy to write off Keane as the winsome and even less hip siblings of Coldplay but times are changing and maybe the drugs did work as, on this evidence, Keane have shredded the earnest-indie blueprint and have set a new course for the Land of Make Believe. —  The Music Fix
  • Winslet was winsome, as ever, but pretty gratingly humourless about the whole thing. —  Blogposts | guardian.co.uk
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

comely ·  alluring ·  debonair ·  dark-eyed ·  enchant ·  buxom ·  girlish ·  persuasive ·  saucy ·  fair-haired ·  coquettish ·  captivate
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English winsum, from Old English wynsum : from wynn, joy; see wen-1 in Indo-European roots + -sum, characterized by; see -some1.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English winsome, winsom, wynsum, wunsum, from Anglo-Saxon wynsum (= Old Saxon wunsam = Old High German wunnisam, wunnosam, Middle High German wunnesam), joyful, delightful, from wyn, joy (see winne), + -sum = English -some.
 

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/ˈwɪnsəm/
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