wert - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
(stressed)
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /wɜːt/
- (General American) IPA(key): /wɝt/
- Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)t
(unstressed)
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /wət/
wert
- (archaic) second-person singular simple past indicative of be
- Synonym: wast
Why wert thou there?
- 1820, Percy Bysshe Shelley, To A Skylark, (first two lines of ode),
- "Hail to thee, blithe Spirit! Bird thou never wert, ..."
- (archaic) second-person singular simple past subjunctive of be
- Synonym: were
If thou wert mine, I would be in heaven!
- “wert”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 2000, →ISBN.
- “wert”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
From Middle High German wert, from Old High German werd, from Proto-Germanic *werþaz. See the English cognate worth for more.
wert (strong nominative masculine singular werter, comparative werter, superlative am wertesten)
- worth, worthy of [with accusative or (higher register) genitive ‘something’]
- Gold(es) wert sein ― to be worth gold/worth its weight in gold
- Das ist die Mühe nicht wert. ― That's not worth the effort.
- Sie fand es nicht der Mühe wert. ― She didn't find it worth the effort.
- Der Wein ist seinen Preis wert. ― The wine is worth its price.
- Er ist die ganze Aufmerksamkeit nicht wert, die er bekommt. ― He's not worthy of all the attention he gets.
- (higher register) worthy of [with genitive ‘someone’]
- Das ist meiner nicht wert. ― That’s below my dignity.
- (formal) dear
- Werte Gäste, ... ― Dear guests, ...
- In older usage, wert was generally construed with a genitive object. This is now restricted to elevated style or fixed expressions, for example: Wer den Pfennig nicht ehrt, ist des Talers nicht wert. — “Who doesn't honour the penny, isn't worthy of the dollar.” (An equivalent expression is “A penny saved is a penny earned”.)
- The genitive case is preferred when the object of wert is a person (or a group, organization, etc.). However, this usage is quite rare and würdig is more common instead.
Comparative forms of wert
Superlative forms of wert
From Old Dutch *wert, *wirt, from Proto-Germanic *werduz.
wert m
This noun needs an inflection-table template.
- Dutch: waard
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
wert
- inflection of werden:
- “wert (I)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
- Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “wert (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page I
wert
- Alternative form of wort (“plant”)
wert
- Alternative form of vert
wert
- Alternative form of vert
wert
- Alternative form of warte
wert ?
wert f
- Alternative form of wyrt
wert m inan
- wert in silling.org
wert
- to be green