Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Waif |
WaifNoun1. A homeless child especially one forsaken or orphaned. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "waif" was first used: 1376. (references) |
Etymology: Waif \Waif\, noun. [Old French expression waif, gaif, as adjective, lost, unclaimed, chose gaive waif, Late Latin expression wayfium, res vaivae; of Scand. origin. See Waive.]. (Websters 1913) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Dream Interpretation | To dream of a waif, denotes personal difficulties, and especial ill-luck in business. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted .... |
Food & Agriculture | Timber stranded along a floating waterway or by the sea, and bearing no identifiable property marks. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
WAIF | English | World Adoption International Fund | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Good | Boon; (gift); good turn; blessing; world of good; piece of good luck, piece of good fortune; nuts, prize, windfall, godsend, waif, treasure-trove. |
Relinquishment | Derelict; Adjective: foundling; jetsam, waif. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Waif |
| English words defined with "waif": Waift. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "waif": Waif. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "waif": Waift. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | The Milky Waif (1946) A Waif of the Desert (1913) The School Teacher and the Waif (1912) A Waif of the Sea (1912) Captain Barnacle's Waif (1912) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Theater & Movies | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Articles of whale-boat gear. 1. Lantern keg containing matches, bread,&c. 2 Boat compass. 3. Water keg. 4. Piggin for bailing water 5. Waif for signaling. 6. Tub oar crotch. 7. Double oar-lock 8. Large line in line-tub. 9. Knife to cut line. 10 Row-lock. 11. Hatchet 12. Grapnel. 13. Drag or drug to retard whale. 14. Canvas nipper.Credit: National Marine Fisheries Historical Image Collection. |  | Funeral of a little waif, Paris.Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | If it had not been a waif, it would have had the appearance of a mystification. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Waif" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Waif" is used about 35 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 35 | 58,339 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "waif": waif-cum-designer, waif-life, waif-like. | |
Ending with "waif": Sea-waif. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
waif | 77 |
model waif | 7 |
nude waif | 5 |
sex waif | 3 |
88.3 waif | 3 |
waif young | 3 |
radio waif | 3 |
island waif whidbey | 2 |
animal shelter waif | 2 |
lesbian waif young | 2 |
girl waif | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "waif"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | varfanjak (almsman, destitute, needy person, pauper, poor man), mall pa zot, fëmijë i braktisur. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | راية للإرشاد, شىء مجهول (uncertainty), شخص متشرد, شخص لقيط, بضائع مسروقة. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | непотърсена вещ, безстопанствено животно, безстопанствена вещ, бездомно дете, бездомник (outcast, unfortunate), изоставено дете (wastrel). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | zboží vyplavené mořem, opuštìné dítì, nalezenec, nalezená vìc. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | drivtoemmer (waifwood). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | drijfhout (drift, driftwood, waifwood). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | مال متروکه , ادم دربدر, بچه سرراهی (Foster), بچه بی صاحب . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | ajopuu (drift, driftwood, waifwood). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | enfant misérable, enfant abandonné, drapeau de pilotage, bois égaré (waifwood), animaux errant. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Strandgut (flotsam, flotsam and jetsam, jetsam, stranded goods, waifs, wreckage). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | έρμαιο (adrift, drifting), παιδί άστεγο, εκτραπέν ξύλον (waifwood). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | יל" עזוב, אסופי (foundling), חסר בית (homeless, outcast), "פקר (anarchy, lawlessness, unclaimed property). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | lelenc (foundling). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | trovatello (foundling), legname smarrito (waifwood), creatura gracile, bambino abbandonato. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 浮浪児 (juvenile vagrant). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | ふろうじ (juvenile vagrant). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | paitchey treigit, faagailagh (changeling, dilatory, laggard, quitter). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | aifway vagabundo (bum, cornerman, downcast, gadabout, gad-fly, hobo, landlord, landlubber, Lea, maverick, planetoid, prowler, rambling, Ranger, rover, rowdy, runabout, stroller, strolling, tramp, vagabond, vagrant, wanderer, wandering, wastrel, Woodward), toragem perdida (waifwood), pária (alien, castaway, dregs, outcast, pariah), criança abandonada (abandoned child, foundress, homeless child), coisa perdida. (various references) obiect pierdut, obiect azvârlit la mal de valuri, copil vagabond (gutter-snipe), copil abandonat, bun fãrã proprietar, animale fãrã adãpost. (various references) брошенная вещь, беспризорный ребенок (gutter-child, guttersnipe, stray), бездомный (bench-warmer, dosser, homeless, houseless, outcast, roofless, stray, strayer, unhoused). (various references) nađena stvar, beskućnik (down and out, homeless). (various references) niño abandonado (abandoned child), descarriada (waifwood). (various references) hittebarn (foundling), herrelös hund (pariah dog). (various references) sahipsiz mal (derelict, unclaimed good), sahipsiz hayvan, kimsesiz çocuk (orphan), kayıp eşya (left-luggage), kayıp çocuk, kalıntı (carcase, carcass, end, hangover, relic, remainder, remnant, residual, residue, rest, ruins, rump, spoils), batan geminin malları, başıboş hayvan (straggler, stray). (various references) випадкова знахідка, нічия річ, нічийний, бродяга (abraham-man, bush-whacker, drummer, gadabout, hobo, loafer, needy, nomad, prowler, rambler, runabout, runagate, stroller, tourist, tramp, vagabond, vagrant), безгосподарний (ownerless, unowned), безпритульний (homeless, houseless, outcast, ownerless, ragamuffin, shelterless), бездомна людина (maverick, strayling), бездомний (homeless, houseless, outcast, roofless, stray, unhoused), приблудна тварина, приблудний, покинутий (abandoned, desert, deserted, desolate, forgotten, forlorn, forsaken, lone, lovelorn, outcast, solitary). (various references) trẻ bơ vơ trẻ bơ vơ sống nơi đầu đường xó chợ chó mèo vô chủ đầu thừa đuôi thẹo. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Anglo-Norman | 1100-1600 | waif. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "waif": waifed, waifing, waiflike, waifs. (additional references) | |
| |
"Waif" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: aif, awaif, Awdf, awf, awi, awife, Baif, faif, gaif, haif, jaif, paif, saif, Sweif, vaif, waaah, waac, wacid, waf, waff, wafi, wai, waic, waife, waifi, waifl, waify, waig, waik, waip, wair, waiv, Wapi, waqf, warf, wasi, Wasik, waum, wayb, wayg, wayi, Wazir, weia, weib, weic, weift, weim, weio, weof, Wgic, whaif, whif, wia, wiam, wiap, wiax, wif, wiff, wify, woef, wraif, wrif, Wufi, wui, Wwi. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "waif" (pronounced wā"f) |
| 2 | -ā" f | chafe, safe, strafe, unsafe. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-f-i-w" | |
-2 letters: ai, aw, fa, if. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-f-i-w" | |
+1 letter: waifs. | |
+2 letters: waffie, waifed. | |
+3 letters: airflow, alewife, fairway, fanwise, fawnier, fawning, fishway, flawier, flawing, lifeway, sawfish, waffies, waffing, wafting, waifing, wailful. | |
+4 letters: airflows, crawfish, dwarfing, dwarfish, dwarfism, fairways, farmwife, fawniest, fawnlike, firewall, firmware, fishways, flatwise, flawiest, giftware, giftwrap, hawfinch, kalewife, lifeways, sawflies, wafering, waffling, waiflike, wakerife, warfarin, weakfish, weariful, wharfing, windfall, windflaw. | |
+5 letters: drawknife, dwarfisms, dwarflike, fallowing, farmwives, farrowing, fawningly, firewalls, firewater, firmwares, giftwares, giftwraps, guffawing, rauwolfia, sawfishes, semidwarf, squawfish, upwafting, wafflings, wailfully, waitstaff, warfarins, wayfaring, welfarism, welfarist, whiteface, windfalls, windflaws. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)57 61 69 66 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references).--. .- .. ..-. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01010111 01100001 01101001 01100110 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)W a i f |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0057 0061 0069 0066 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)57677572 |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Fiction 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Expressions 10. Expressions: Internet 11. Translations: Modern 12. Translations: Ancient | 13. Abbreviations 14. Acronyms 15. Derivations 16. Rhymes | 17. Anagrams 18. Orthography 19. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
