whim

C2+ Topic:General Vocabulary

US /wɪm/ UK /wɪm/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
a sudden, capricious desire or impulse

On a whim, she booked a one-way ticket to Lisbon.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a sudden, capricious desire... caprice fancy impulse notion vagary fad urge

Word family

Derived forms whimsy whimsical

Related forms whimsywhimsey

Etymology

A shortening of whim-wham ('a fanciful object, trifle'), of obscure and probably imitative origin, attested from the 17th century in the sense of a sudden fancy.

Topics

General Vocabulary

External links

# whim

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /wɪm/
**IPA (UK):** /wɪm/

## Meanings
1. a sudden, capricious desire or impulse

## Examples
- On a whim, she booked a one-way ticket to Lisbon.

## Synonyms
- caprice
- fancy
- impulse
- notion
- vagary
- fad
- urge

## Derived Forms
- whimsy
- whimsical

## Related Forms
- whimsy
- whimsey

## Etymology
A shortening of whim-wham ('a fanciful object, trifle'), of obscure and probably imitative origin, attested from the 17th century in the sense of a sudden fancy.

## AI Etymology
whim is a shortening of whim-wham ('a fanciful object, trifle'), of obscure and probably imitative origin, attested from the 17th century in the sense of a sudden fancy. The explanation preserves that uncertainty: the proposed comparisons illuminate the form, but they do not turn the word into a securely traced inheritance or borrowing. In modern use, the noun sense is "a sudden, capricious desire or impulse", which keeps the etymology connected to the word's present dictionary value rather than treating it as a merely historical label. The wider word family includes related English forms such as whimsy, whimsey and derivatives such as whimsy, whimsical, showing how the same base continues to support neighboring English vocabulary.

## Topics
- General Vocabulary

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