waist

EnglishEdit

Alternative formsEdit

waste, wast (obsolete)

EtymologyEdit

From Middle English waste, wast (“stature, waist”), from Old English wǣst, *wǣxt, from Proto-Germanic *wahstuz (“growth, development, stature, build”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂weg-s- (“to multiply, increase”). Cognate with Middle High German wahst (“growth”), Danish vækst (“growth”), Swedish växt (“growth, development, size”), Icelandic vöxtur (“growth”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌷𐍃𐍄𐌿𐍃 (wahstus, “growth”). Related to Old English weaxan (“to grow, increase”). More at wax.

PronunciationEdit

IPA^(key): /weɪst/
Audio (US) (file)
Rhymes: -eɪst
Homophone: waste

NounEdit

waist (plural waists)

The part of the body between the pelvis and the stomach.
A part of a piece of clothing that covers the waist.
The narrow connection between the thorax and abdomen in certain insects (e.g., bees, ants and wasps).
The middle portion of the hull of a ship or the fuselage of an aircraft.
(nautical) That part of the upper deck of a ship between the quarterdeck and the forecastle.
- 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 18”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, OCLC 57395299:
  There he stood, very quietly overlooking some sailmakers who were mending a top-sail in the waist.
(obsolete) The middle part of anything.
- c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene ii]:
  In the dead vast and middle of the night

Derived termsEdit

DescendantsEdit

→ Japanese: ウエスト (uesuto)

TranslationsEdit

part of the body

Albanian: bel (sq) m
Arabic: خَصْر‎ m (ḵaṣr), وَسَط‎ m (wasaṭ)
Egyptian Arabic: وسط‎ m (weṣṭ)
Armenian: please add this translation if you can
Azerbaijani: bel (az), qurşaq (az)
Bashkir: бил (bil)
Basque: please add this translation if you can
Belarusian: та́лія f (tálija)
Breton: dargreiz (br) m, bandenn (br) f
Brunei Malay: pinggang
Bulgarian: та́лия f (tálija)
Burmese: ခါး (my) (hka:)
Catalan: cintura (ca) f
Chichewa: chiuno
Chinese:
Mandarin: 腰 (zh) (yāo), 腰部 (zh) (yāobù)
Coptic: ϯⲡⲓ f (tipi)
Czech: pas (cs) m
Danish: talje c
Dutch: middel (nl) n
Esperanto: talio (eo)
Estonian: vöökoht
Finnish: vyötärö (fi)
French: taille (fr) f
Galician: cintura (gl) f, van (gl) m, cós m
Georgian: წელი (ka) (c̣eli)
German: Taille (de) f
Greek: μέση (el) f (mési)
Ancient: ἰξύς f (ixús)
Gujarati: કમર (gu) (kamar)
Hawaiian: pūhaka
Hebrew: מֹתֶן‎ (he) m (moten)
Hindi: कमर (hi) f (kamar)
Hungarian: derék (hu)
Icelandic: mitti (is) n
Ido: tayo (io)
Indonesian: pinggang (id)
Italian: vita (it) f, cintura (it) f, cintola (it) f
Japanese: 胴のくびれ (どうのくびれ, dō no kubire), 腰部 (ja) (ようぶ, yōbu), 胴回り (どうまわり, dōmawari)
Kabuverdianu: sintura
Kannada: ಸೊಂಟ (kn) (soṇṭa)
Kapampangan: awakan
Kazakh: бел (bel)
Khmer: ចង្កេះ (km) (cɑngkeh)
Korean: 허리 (ko) (heori)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: کەمەر‎ (ku) (kemer)

Northern Kurdish: navteng (ku) f, newq (ku) f
Kyrgyz: бел (ky) (bel)
Ladino: ביל‎ m, bel m
Latin: media pars corporis f, medium corpus n
Lao: ແອວ (lo) (ʼǣu)

Latvian: viduklis m, jostasvieta f
Lithuanian: juosmuo ?
Macedonian: појас m (pojas)
Malay: pinggang (ms)
Malayalam: ഇടുപ്പ് (ml) (iṭuppŭ)
Maltese: qadd
Manchu: ᡩᠠᡵᠠ (dara), ᡩᠠᡵᠠᠮᠠ (darama)
Mansaka: awak
Maori: please add this translation if you can
Miyako: ヨーラ (jōra)
Mongolian: бэлхүүс (mn) (belkhüüs)
Navajo: anííʼ
Nepali: कटि (ne) (kaṭi), कम्मर (ne) (kammar)
Norwegian: midje ?
Old Turkic: 𐰋𐰃𐰠‎ (bél)
Oriya: please add this translation if you can
Ottoman Turkish: بل‎ (bel), بیل‎ (bîl), كمر‎ (kemer)
Persian: کمر‎ (fa) (kamar)
Plautdietsch: Kjnäp f, Weest f, Taulj f
Polish: talia (pl) f, pas (pl) m
Portuguese: cintura (pt) f
Romani: mashkar m
Romanian: talie (ro) f, mijloc (ro) n
Russian: та́лия (ru) f (tálija)
Scottish Gaelic: meadhan m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: по̏ја̄с m

Roman: pȍjās (sh) m
Slovak: pás m
Slovene: pas (sl) m
Spanish: cintura (es) f
Sundanese: angkeng
Swahili: kiuno (sw)
Swedish: midja (sv) ?
Tagalog: baywang (tl), bewang (tl)
Tajik: камар (tg) (kamar), миён (tg) (miyon)
Tamil: இடுப்பு (ta) (iṭuppu)
Telugu: నడుము (te) (naḍumu)
Thai: เอว (th) (eeo), สะเอว (th) (sà-eeo), กะเอว (th) (gà-eeo), บั้นเอว
Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
Turkish: bel (tr)
Turkmen: bil (tk)
Tuvan: бел кежик (bel kejik), бел кеш (bel keş), бел кежи (bel keji)
Ukrainian: та́лія f (tálija)
Urdu: کمر‎ f (kamar)
Uyghur: بەل‎ (bel)
Uzbek: bel (uz)
Vietnamese: eo (vi), eo lưng (vi)
Welsh: gwasg m
White Hmong: please add this translation if you can
Yami: kawakan
Yiddish: טאַליע‎ f (talye)
Zazaki: mér
Zhuang: hwet

part of a piece of clothing that covers the waist

Bulgarian: корсаж m (korsaž)
Danish: talje c
Finnish: vyötärö (fi)
French: taille (fr) f, ceinture (fr) f
Hawaiian: pākana
Icelandic: mitti (is) n

Polish: pas (pl) m
Russian: по́яс (ru) m (pójas), лиф (ru) m (lif) (bodice)
Scottish Gaelic: meadhan m
Spanish: cintura (es) f

narrow connection between the thorax and abdomen in certain insects

Danish: hvepsetalje c
Finnish: vyötärö (fi)

French: taille (fr) f

middle portion of the hull of a ship or the fuselage of an aircraft

Estonian: kesktekk
Finnish: keskirunko
German: Rumpf (de) m

Hungarian: törzs (hu)
Russian: шкафу́т (ru) m (škafút)

nautical: upper deck of a ship between the quarterdeck and the forecastle

middle part of anything

Finnish: keskiosa

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked