Other forms: waters, watering, watered
Water is the clear liquid that runs out of the tap and falls out of the sky. A glass of it beside the bed, rain on the window, the sea rolling in.
Water is uncountable, so you ask for some water or a glass of water — never a water, though in a café people order two waters and nobody minds. It is a verb too: you water the plants, your eyes water in the cold wind, your mouth waters at the smell of bread. It builds long compounds — waterfall, waterproof, watermelon, underwater — and the adjective watery means thin and weak, as in watery soup. English also uses it for trouble and calm: you are in hot water when you are in trouble, and a settled argument is water under the bridge.
1nounwaterThe clear liquid that falls as rain and that all living things need to survive.~77%
“Fill the pan with cold water and put it on to boil.”
2verbpourTo pour water onto a plant or crop.~2%
“He waters the tomatoes every evening in summer.”
3verbeyes(of eyes or mouth) To fill with liquid, from cold, smoke, or the smell of food.~2%
“The onions made her eyes water.”
4nounareaAn area of sea, lake or river, spoken of as a stretch or a territory.~19%
“The boat left British waters just after dawn.”
Shares are an estimate: a language model read 15 sentences found in the wild and placed 15 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.
water is a liquid.
Water has barely moved in thousands of years. Middle English water, Old English wæter, Proto-West Germanic *watar, Proto-Germanic *watōr — and behind them all Proto-Indo-European *wódr̥, which already meant water. Few words have travelled so far and changed so little.
Proto-Indo-European
*wed-
Middle English
water
English, today
water
From Middle English water. From Middle English water, from Old English wæter (“water”), from Proto-West Germanic watar, from Proto-Germanic watōr (“water”), from Proto-Indo-European wódr̥ (“water”). 2
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA