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weal

Pronunciation: /wiːl/

The English word “weal” has 6 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. Wealth, riches.
  2. Welfare, prosperity.
  3. Boon, benefit.
  4. Specifically, the general happiness of a community, country etc. (often with qualifying word).
  5. A raised, longitudinal wound, usually purple, on the surface of flesh caused by a stroke of a rod or whip; a welt.

verb

  1. To mark with stripes; to wale.

Etymology

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

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.