weal

Englisch

Pronunciation

• enPR: wēl, IPA^(key): /wiːl/

  • Audio (UK):

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• Rhymes: -iːl
• Homophone: we'll; wheal, wheel (in accents with the wine-whine merger)

Etymology 1

From Middle English wele, from Old English wela (“wellness, welfare, prosperity, riches, well-being, wealth”), from Proto-Germanic *walô (“well-being, wellness, weal”). Cognate with German Wohl, Danish vel, Swedish väl.

Nomen

weal (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) Wealth, riches. [10th-19th c.]
2. (literary) Welfare, prosperity. [from 10th c.]
   • Template:RQ:Bacon The New Atlantis

     as we love the weal of our souls and bodies

   • Template:RQ:Milton PL
3. (by extension) Boon, benefit.
   • 1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 557:

     And indeed I blamed myself and sore repented me of having taken compassion on him and continued in this condition, suffering fatigue not to be described, till I said to myself, "I wrought him a weal and he requited me with my ill; by Allah, never more will I do any man a service so long as I live!"

4. Specifically, the general happiness of a community, country etc. (often with qualifying word). [from 15th c.]
   • 1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter IV, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume I, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 515:

     Yet never was there a time when it more concerned the public weal, that the character of the parliament should stand high.

   • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter IV, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:

     The austerity of my tone seemed to touch a nerve and kindle the fire that always slept in this vermilion-headed menace to the common weal [...]

   • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin 2003, p. 372:

     Louis could aim to restyle himself the first among citizens, viewing virtuous attachment to the public weal as his most important kingly duty.

Derived terms

• commonweal
• wealful
• wealsman
• wealth

Related terms

• in weal or woe

Translations

community welfare

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 幸福，福利

• Finnish: hyvinvointi (fi), hyvä (fi)
• Russian: благосостоя́ние (ru) n (blagosostojánije), бла́го (ru) n (blágo)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Spanish: bien común m
• Swedish: väl (sv) n, välstånd (sv) n
• Turkish: gönenç (tr)

Etymology 2

See wale.

Nomen

weal (plural weals)

1. A raised, longitudinal wound, usually purple, on the surface of flesh caused by a stroke of a rod oder whip; a welt.

   Synonym: wheal

   • 1796, J[ohn] G[abriel] Stedman, chapter XII, in Narrative of a Five Years’ Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam, in Guiana, on the Wild Coast of South America; […], volume I, London: J[oseph] Johnson, […], and J. Edwards, […], →OCLC, page 296:

     [A]lthough a few [slaves] live comfortably at Paramaribo, the greateſt number are wretched, particularly thoſe governed by a lady, who have many weals to ſhow, but not the ſmallest indulgence to boaſt of.

   • 1892, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “[The Great Shadow] The End of the Storm”, in The Great Shadow and Beyond the City, Bristol: J. W. Arrowsmith, […]; London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., →OCLC, pages 140–141:

     He turned as I struck him and fired full into my face, and the bullet left a weal across my cheek which will mark me to my dying day.

   • 1958, T. H. White, The Once and Future King, London: Collins, 1959, Chapter 16,^[1]

     He had been slashed sixteen times by mighty boars, and his legs had white weals of shiny flesh that stretched right up to his ribs.

   • 2007, Tan Twan Eng, The Gift of Rain, New York: Weinstein Books, Book Two, Chapter Twenty-One, p. 422,^[2]

     And I saw the green island in the immense sea, the borders of the sea curling with a lining of light, like a vast piece of rice paper, its edges alive with weals of red embers, ready to burst into flame.

Translations

a raised, longitudinal wound, usually purple, on the surface of flesh caused by stroke of rod or whip

• Dutch: striem (nl) f
• German: Strieme f
• Greek:

  Ancient: μώλωψ m (mṓlōps), σμῶδιξ f (smôdix)

• Irish: léas
• Italian: pomfo (it)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: vībex f
• Maori: kārawarawa
• Polish: szrama (pl) f
• Russian: рубе́ц (ru) m (rubéc)
• Spanish: roncha (es) f

Verb

weal (third-person singular simple present weals, present participle wealing, simple past and past participle wealed)

1. To mark with stripes; to wale.

Anagrams

• alew, e-law, lawe, wale