wheat

B2 Topic:Plants & Agriculture

US /wiːt/ See IPA manual

Minimal pairs

Sounds like wit /ɪ/ vs /iː/ Sounds like whit /ɪ/ vs /iː/

Freq #6910

Meanings

1

noun
A cereal grain grown for food and used to make flour for bread, pasta, and other foods.

The farmers harvested the golden wheat at the end of summer.
2

noun
A pale yellowish-brown colour, like that of ripe wheat.

They painted the kitchen walls a warm shade of wheat.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

2 noun · a pale yellowish-brown... straw

Word family

Forms wheats

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

wheat flour
powder made by grinding wheat grain, commonly used in baking

Noun + noun

Simplified etymology

Wheat comes from Old English and is related to white, probably because of the grain’s pale color.

Etymology

From Middle English whete, from Old English hwǣte, from Proto-West Germanic *hwaitī, from Proto-Germanic *hwaitijaz (compare West Frisian weet, Dutch weit, Low German Weten, German Weizen, Danish hvede, Swedish vete, Norwegian Nynorsk kveite, Icelandic hveiti), from *hwītaz (“white”). More at white.

whete Middle English hwǣte Old English *hwaitī Proto-West Germanic *hwaitijaz Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Plants & Agriculture

External links

# wheat

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /wiːt/
**Frequency rank:** 6910

## Meanings
1. A cereal grain grown for food and used to make flour for bread, pasta, and other foods.
2. A pale yellowish-brown colour, like that of ripe wheat.

## Examples
- The farmers harvested the golden wheat at the end of summer.
- They painted the kitchen walls a warm shade of wheat.

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: whete
- Root: hwǣte
- Root: *hwaitī
- Root: *hwaitijaz

## Etymology
From Middle English whete, from Old English hwǣte, from Proto-West Germanic *hwaitī, from Proto-Germanic *hwaitijaz (compare West Frisian weet, Dutch weit, Low German Weten, German Weizen, Danish hvede, Swedish vete, Norwegian Nynorsk kveite, Icelandic hveiti), from *hwītaz (“white”). More at white.

## AI Etymology
Wheat is from Middle English whete, from Old English hwǣte, from Proto-West Germanic *hwaitī, from Proto-Germanic *hwaitijaz (compare West Frisian weet, Dutch weit, Low German Weten, German Weizen, Danish hvede, Swedish vete, Norwegian Nynorsk kveite, Icelandic hveiti), from *hwītaz (“white”). More at white. Important historical forms include Middle English whete, Old English hwǣte, Proto-West Germanic *hwaitī, and Proto-Germanic *hwaitijaz. In present-day use, it can mean a cereal grain grown for food and used to make flour for bread, pasta, and other foods, or a pale yellowish-brown colour, like that of ripe wheat.

## Topics
- Plants & Agriculture

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