wander

A2 Topic:Verbs of Movement

Also spelled wanderin and wand’ring

US /ˈwɑndɚ/ UK /ˈwɒndə/ See IPA manual

Minimal pairs

Sounds like wonder /ʌ/ vs /ɑ/

Freq #6463

Meanings

1

verb
To walk around slowly with no particular purpose or destination.

After dinner, we wandered into town.
2

verb
To move away from the right path, subject, or point.

The speaker kept wandering off the topic.
3

noun
A slow, relaxed walk with no fixed destination.

Let's go for a wander in the park.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to walk around slowly with... roam err

2 verb · to move away from the right... stray

Word family

Forms wanderedwanderingwanderinglywanders

Derived forms bewanderforwanderinwandermiswanderwanderer wanderlustwanderstar

Appears in

Proverbs (1)

See all

Absence makes the heart go wander

Etymology

From Middle English wandren, from Old English wandrian (“to wander, roam, fly around, hover; change; stray, err”), from Proto-West Germanic *wandarōn (“to wander”), from *wandōn (“to turn, change”) + *-rōn (frequentative suffix). Cognate with Scots wander (“to wander”), German wandern (“to wander, roam, hike, migrate”), Dutch wandelen (“to wander, roam, hike, migrate”), Danish vandre (“to wander, roam, hike, migrate”), Swedish vandra (“to wander, hike”).

wandren Middle English wandrian Old English *wandarōn Proto-West Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Verbs of Movement

External links

# wander

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A2
**Part of speech:** verb, noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈwɑndɚ/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈwɒndə/
**Frequency rank:** 6463

## Meanings
1. To walk around slowly with no particular purpose or destination.
2. To move away from the right path, subject, or point.
3. A slow, relaxed walk with no fixed destination.

## Examples
- After dinner, we wandered into town.
- The speaker kept wandering off the topic.
- Let's go for a wander in the park.

## Derived Forms
- bewander
- forwander
- inwander
- miswander
- wanderer
- wanderlust
- wanderstar

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: wandren
- Root: wandrian
- Root: *wandarōn

## Etymology
From Middle English wandren, from Old English wandrian (“to wander, roam, fly around, hover; change; stray, err”), from Proto-West Germanic *wandarōn (“to wander”), from *wandōn (“to turn, change”) + *-rōn (frequentative suffix). Cognate with Scots wander (“to wander”), German wandern (“to wander, roam, hike, migrate”), Dutch wandelen (“to wander, roam, hike, migrate”), Danish vandre (“to wander, roam, hike, migrate”), Swedish vandra (“to wander, hike”).

## AI Etymology
Wander is from Middle English wandren, from Old English wandrian (“to wander, roam, fly around, hover; change; stray, err”), from Proto-West Germanic *wandarōn (“to wander”), from *wandōn (“to turn, change”) + *-rōn (frequentative suffix). Cognate with Scots wander (“to wander”), German wandern (“to wander, roam, hike, migrate”), Dutch wandelen (“to wander, roam, hike, migrate”), Danish vandre (“to wander, roam, hike, migrate”), Swedish vandra (“to wander, hike”). In present-day use, it can mean to walk around slowly with no particular purpose or destination, or to move away from the right path, subject, or point.

## Topics
- Verbs of Movement

markdown