whelm

English

/ʍɛlm/

verb
Definitions
  • (transitive) To bury, to cover; to engulf, to submerge.
  • (transitive) To throw (something) over a thing so as to cover it.
  • (transitive) To ruin or destroy.
  • (intransitive) To overcome with emotion; to overwhelm.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English whelmen (turn over, invert, capsize, turn upside down) inherited from Old English *hwealmnian derived from Proto-Germanic *hwalbą (vault, arch) derived from Proto-Indo-European *kʷelp- (curve, arch), *kʷelp- (curve, arch).

Origin

Proto-Indo-European

*kʷelp-

Gloss

curve, arch

Concept
Semantic Field

The house

Ontological Category

Person/Thing

Kanji

Emoji

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms