welcome
Meanings
Plural: welcomes
Noun
- the state of being welcome
- "don't outstay your welcome"
- a greeting or reception
- "the proposal got a warm welcome"
- The act of greeting someone’s arrival, especially by saying "Welcome!"; reception.
- The utterance of such a greeting.
- Kind reception of a guest or newcomer.
- The state of being a welcome guest.
Verb
- accept gladly
- "I welcome your proposals"
- bid welcome to; greet upon arrival
- receive someone, as into one's house
- To affirm or greet the arrival of someone, especially by saying "Welcome!".
- To accept something willingly or gladly.
Adjective
- giving pleasure or satisfaction or received with pleasure or freely granted
- "a welcome relief"
- "a welcome guest"
- "made the children feel welcome"
- "you are welcome to join us"
Adj
- Whose arrival is a cause of joy; received with gladness; admitted willingly to the house, entertainment, or company.
- Producing gladness.
- Followed by to: free to have or enjoy gratuitously.
Intj
- Greeting given upon someone's arrival.
- Ellipsis of you're welcome..
Origin / Etymology
From Middle English welcome, wolcume, wulcume, wilcume, from Old English wilcuma (“a wished-for guest”; compare also wilcume (“welcome!”, interjection)), from Proto-West Germanic *willjakwemō, from Proto-Germanic *wiljakwemô (“a wished-for arrival or guest”), possibly from *wiljakwemaną (“to be welcome”), equivalent to will (“desire”) + come (“comer, arrival”). The component wil- was replaced by wel- when the sense “guest” of the second component was no longer understood, likely under influence from the adverb well. Cognate with Scots walcome, West Frisian wolkom, Dutch welkom (earlier willecome), German willkommen, German Low German willkamen, Danish velkommen, Norwegian Bokmål velkommen, Norwegian Nynorsk velkomen, velkommen, Swedish välkommen, Icelandic velkominn, Faroese vælkomin, and Old French wilecome (whence Middle French willecomme (“welcome”)), from Germanic.
The verb is from Middle English welcomen, wolcumen, wilcumen, from Old English wellcumian, wylcumian, wilcumian (“to welcome, receive gladly”).
Similar constructions are found in Modern Greek καλώς ορίσατε (kalós orísate), South Slavic languages, such as Bulgarian добре́ дошъ́л (dobré došǎ́l), Serbo-Croatian dobrodošao,
and also in Romance languages, such as Italian benvenuto, Spanish bienvenido, French bienvenu, Catalan benvingut, Portuguese bem-vindo and Romanian bun venit, meaning “[may you have fared] well [in] coming [here]”. These Romance terms do not derive from a Classical Latin root, as no similar construction in Latin is found to exist, but are instead presumed to be the result of a calque from, considering the ruling elite of the Germanic kingdoms which succeeded the Western Roman Empire, a Germanic language into Proto-Romance (Vulgar Latin; see Latin *bene venūtus, and compare perdōnō and compāniō for similar historical calques).
Synonyms
Antonyms
say farewell, unwelcome
Scrabble Score: 14
welcome is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL wordwelcome is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
welcome is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary