Where does “wowsery” come from?
wowsery (English) comes from English Y, from English yuri, from Japanese 百合, from Japanese 連用形, from Japanese 見る, from Japanese 夢, from Old Japanese 夢, from Japanese 目.
Ancestry of “wowsery”, step by step
wowsery traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English Y
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Y | A figure or mark in the shape of the letter Y; A... |
| 2 | English | yuri | A narrative or visual work featuring a romance or... |
| 3 | Japanese | 百合 | lily |
| 4 | Japanese | 連用形 | an inflectional category: the continuative or... |
| 5 | Japanese | 見る | to see, to watch, to observe, to look at... |
| 6 | Japanese | 夢 | a dream; a vision; leaving reality to the state... |
| 7 | Old Japanese | 夢 | a dream |
| 8 | Japanese | 目 | an order in biology: smaller than a class, bigger... |
| 9 | Middle Chinese | 目 | — |
via English wowser
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | wowser | A lout or similar disruptive person; One with... |
| 2 | English | wow | An indication of excitement, surprise,... |
| 3 | Scots | wow | wow (an exclamation of astonishment or amazement) |
| 4 | Scots | wave | to wave, to move back and forth |
| 5 | Middle English | waven | To shake, swing or totter; to move to and fro; To... |
| 6 | Old English | wafian | to wave; to be agitated, astonished, amazed; to... |
| 7 | Proto-Germanic | wabōną | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | webʰ- | to weave, braid |