Etymology
1. O.E.
wascan, wæscan, from P.Gmc.
*watskanan (cf. O.N.
vaska, M.Du.
wasscen, Du.
wassen, Ger.
waschen), from stem
*wat-, the source of
water. Used mainly of clothes in O.E. (the principal verb for washing the body, dishes, etc. being
þwean). Verbal phrase
wash out "obliterate, cancel" is attested from 1580; hence colloquial sense of "to call off (an event) due to bad weather, etc.;" the noun sense of "disappointing failure" is recorded from 1902.
Washed-out "faded" is from 1837;
washed up is 1923 theater slang, from notion of washing up one's hands at the end of a job.
2. From Middle English wasshen, waschen, weschen, from Old English wascan, from Proto-West Germanic *waskan, from Proto-Germanic *waskaną, *watskaną (“to wash, get wet”), from Proto-Indo-European *wed- (“wet; water”).
3. Cognate with Saterland Frisian waaske (“to wash”), West Frisian waskje (“to wash”), Dutch wassen, wasschen (“to wash”), Low German waschen (“to wash”), German waschen (“to wash”), Danish vaske (“to wash”), Norwegian Bokmål vaske (“to wash”), Swedish vaska (“to wash”), Icelandic vaska (“to wash”). See: Old English '
wascan', Proto-Germanic '
*waskaną', Frisian, Saterlandic 'waaske', Dutch '
wassen', Low Saxon 'waschen', German, old spelling '
waschen', Danish '
vaske', Norwegian '
vaske', Swedish, all forms '
vaska', Icelandic '
vaska'.
Verbs referencing "wash"
German, old spelling
waschen, Sranan
wasi, Danish
vaske, Norwegian
vaske, Cimbrian bèssan, Cebuano waswas, Luxembourgish
wäschen, Frisian, Saterlandic waaske.