Etymology
1. fusion of O.E.
winnan "struggle for, work at, strive, fight," and
gewinnan "to gain or succeed by struggling, to win," both from P.Gmc.
*wenwanan (cf. O.S.
winnan, O.N.
vinna, O.Fris.
winna, Du.
winnen "to gain, win," Dan.
vinde "to win," O.H.G.
winnan "to strive, struggle, fight," Ger.
gewinnen "to gain, win," Goth.
gawinnen "to suffer, toil"). Perhaps related to wish, or from PIE
*van- "overcome, conquer." Sense of "to be victorious" is recorded from c.1300. The noun in O.E. meant "labor, strife, conflict;" modern sense of "a victory in a game or contest" is first attested 1862, from the verb.
Breadwinner (see bread) preserves the sense of "toil" in O.E.
winnan. Phrase
you can't win them all (1954) first attested in Raymond Chandler.
2. From Middle English winnen, from Old English winnan (“to labour, swink, toil,”) (compare Old English ġewinnan (“conquer, obtain, gain; endure, bear, suffer; be ill”)), from Proto-West Germanic *winnan, from Proto-Germanic *winnaną (“to swink, labour, win, gain, fight”), from Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- (“to strive, wish, desire, love”).
3. Cognates
4. Cognate with North Frisian wan, wane, wen, wine, wune (“to win”), Saterland Frisian and West Frisian winne (“to win”), Cimbrian gabènnan (“to win”), Dutch and Low German winnen (“to win”), German gewinnen (“to win”), Luxembourgish gewannen (“to win”), Danish vinde (“to win”), Faroese and Icelandic vinna (“to win”), Norwegian Bokmål vinne (“to win”), Norwegian Nynorsk vinna, vinne (“to win”), Swedish vinna (“to win”), Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌽𐌽𐌰𐌽 (winnan, “to suffer”); also Latin venus (“beauty, charm, elegance, grace; beloved, love”), Albanian vuaj, vuj (“to suffer; to endure”), Sanskrit वनोति (vanoti, “to desire, like, love, wish; to gain, procure; to win; to prepare; to hurt, injure”). See: Middle English '
winnen', Old English '
winnan', Proto-Germanic '
*winnaną', Cimbrian 'gabènnan', German, old spelling '
gewinnen', Luxembourgish '
gewannen', Danish '
vinde', Norwegian '
vinne', Norwegian, nynorsk '
vinna', Swedish '
vinna', Albanian '
vuaj', Sanskrit '
वनोति'.
Verbs referencing "win"
German, old spelling
gewinnen, Faroese
vinna, Icelandic
vinna, Norwegian, nynorsk
vinna, Swedish
vinna, Norwegian
vinne, Low Saxon winnen, Xhosa
wina, Tok Pisin winim, Frisian, Saterlandic winne, Luxembourgish
gewannen, Hindi
बनना.