The Collaborative Dictionary

Wen \Wen\ (w[e^]n), n. [AS. wenn; akin to D. wen, LG. wenne.] (Med.) An indolent, encysted tumor of the skin; especially, a sebaceous cyst. [1913 Webster]

Wyn \Wyn\, Wynn \Wynn\, n. Also Wen \Wen\ [AS. w[=e]n.] One of the runes (?) adopted into the Anglo-Saxon, or Old English, alphabet. It had the value of modern English w, and was replaced from about a. d. 1280 at first by uu, later by w.

Word Net

wen n : a common cyst of the skin; filled with fatty matter (sebum) that is secreted by a sebaceous gland that has been blocked [syn: sebaceous cyst, pilar cyst, steatocystoma]

Moby Thesaurus

benign tumor, birthmark, blackhead, bleb, blemish, blister, boil, bulla, bump, bunion, callosity, callus, cancer, carbuncle, carcinoma, check, cicatrix, comedo, corn, crack, crater, craze, cyst, defacement, defect, deformation, deformity, dilatation, dilation, disfiguration, disfigurement, distension, distortion, edema, excrescence, fault, flaw, freckle, fungosity, fungus, furuncle, growth, hemangioma, hickey, intumescence, keloid, kink, lentigo, lump, malignant growth, metastatic tumor, milium, mole, morbid growth, needle scar, neoplasm, nevus, nonmalignant tumor, outgrowth, pimple, pit, pock, pockmark, port-wine mark, port-wine stain, proud flesh, pustule, rift, rising, sarcoma, scab, scar, scratch, sebaceous cyst, split, strawberry mark, sty, swell, swelling, swollenness, track, tumefaction, tumescence, tumidity, tumor, turgescence, turgescency, turgidity, twist, verruca, vesicle, wale, warp, wart, weal, welt, whitehead

English

Pronunciation

• , /wɛn/, /wEn/

Rhymes with: -ɛn

Homophones

• when (in accents with the wine-whine merger)

Etymology 1

Old English wenn

Noun

1. a cyst on the skin
   • 1973: Creeps, foreigners with tinted, oily skin, wens, sties, cysts, wheezes, bad teeth, limps, staring or—worse—with Strange Faraway Smiles. — Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow

Translations

Etymology 2

Old English wynn

Noun

1. a runic letter later replaced by w

Dutch

Verb form

wen

1. First person singular present tense of wennen.

German

Pronunciation

[veːn]

Pronoun

wen

1. accusative of wer, who(m) (direct object).

Mandarin

Pinyin syllable

wen

1. A transliteration of any of a number of Chinese characters properly represented as having one of four tones, wēn, wén, wěn, or wèn.

Usage notes

English transcriptions of Chinese speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Chinese language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

Old English

Etymology

From Germanic , from Indo-European *wen- ‘love’. Cogante with Old Frisian wen, Old Saxon wan, Old High German wān (German Wahn ‘delusion’), Old Norse ván, Gothic 𐍅𐌴𐌽𐍃.

Pronunciation

/weːn/

Noun

1. hope, belief
2. expectation, likelihood

Declension

Descendants

• English: ween

The term Wen may refer to:

• Wen family, a major family in the history of Hong Kong
• King Wen of Zhou, a Zhou Dynasty Chinese ruler.
• Emperor Wen of Han China, a Han Dynasty Chinese ruler.
• Emperor Wen of Liu Song, a Liu Song Dynasty Chinese ruler.
• Wen Tianxiang
• Wen Zhengming
• Wen Jiabao, current Chinese Premier
• Wen Zhenheng (1585-1645 AD), Ming dynasty painter, scholar
• Chinese cash (currency), wén (文) in Chinese, a currency of imperial China
• Sorbian languages, also known as Wendish languages
• Wendy's, stock symbol
• Sebaceous cyst, a type of benign cyst resulting from obstruction of a sebaceous gland duct
• The Great Wen, a nickname for London, England
• Wynn from the old English alphabet
• Jing Wen, A young smart boy in Malaysia

See also

• 文
• Wen County