Other forms: welcomed, welcoming, welcomes
Welcome is what you say to someone who has just arrived: welcome, come in, let me take your coat. It is also the standard reply when someone thanks you — thank you, and back comes you're welcome.
As an adjective it means wanted and glad to have: a welcome change, welcome news, a welcome breeze after a hot afternoon. You're welcome to something means feel free — welcome to the last slice, welcome to use the kitchen. As a verb it means greeting someone warmly or receiving an idea gladly: the school welcomes new families, the union welcomed the decision. As a noun it is the greeting itself, which is why a warm welcome and a hero's welcome make sense. One trap for learners: to greet an arriving guest you say 'Welcome!' on its own, because 'You are welcome' answers thanks and nothing else.
1exclamationarrivedA greeting to someone who has just arrived.~2%
“Welcome! Come in out of the rain.”
2phrasewelcomeThe polite reply to thank you.~2%
“'Thanks for the lift.' 'You're welcome.'”
3adjectivewantedWanted, and giving pleasure.~2%
“The rain was a welcome change after three dry weeks.”
4adjectivefreelyFreely allowed to do or take something.~2%
“You're welcome to stay the night if the roads are bad.”
5verbarriveTo greet someone kindly when they arrive.~11%
“The head teacher welcomes every new pupil by name.”
6verbgladTo be glad about something and say so publicly.~2%
“Campaigners welcomed the decision to close the road.”
7nounarrivalThe way someone is greeted on arrival.~79%
“They gave the team a hero's welcome at the airport.”
Shares are an estimate: a language model read 8 sentences found in the wild and placed 8 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.
Welcome began as Old English wilcuma, a wished-for guest — the will you want joined to the come they do. Once people stopped hearing 'guest' in the second half, the first half drifted from wil- to wel-, pulled across by the ordinary word well. The greeting now sounds like it means 'you have come well', which is a happy accident.
Middle English
welcome
English, today
welcome
From Middle English welcome. From Middle English welcome, wolcume, wulcume, wilcume, from Old English wilcuma “a wished-for guest”; compare also wilcume (“welcome!”), from Proto-West Germanic willjakwemō, from Proto-Germanic wiljakwemô (“a wished-for arrival or guest”), possibly from wiljakwemaną (“to be welcome”), equivalent to will + come. The component wil- was replaced by wel- when the sense “guest” of the second component was no longer understood, likely under influence from the adverb well. 2
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA