wield

• enPR: wēld, IPA^(key): /wiːld/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːld
• Homophones: wealed, Weald, weald; wheeled (wine–whine merger)

From Middle English weelden, welden, from the merger of Old English wealdan (“to control, rule”) (strong class 7) and Old English wieldan (“to control, subdue”) (weak). Both verbs derive from Proto-West Germanic *waldan and *waldijan, respectively; and are ultimately from Proto-Germanic *waldaną (“to rule”).

The reason for the merger was that in Middle English the -d in the stem made it hard to distinguish between strong and weak forms in the past tense.^[1]

wield (third-person singular simple present wields, present participle wielding, simple past and past participle wielded)

1. (obsolete) To command, rule over; to possess or own.
   • 1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “Capitulum 7”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book V, [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: David Nutt, […], 1889, →OCLC:

     There was never kyng sauff myselff that welded evir such knyghtes.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

     There was never a king other than myself who ever commanded such knights.
2. (obsolete) To control, to guide or manage.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     With such his chearefull speaches he doth wield / Her mind so well, that to his will she bends […].

3. (obsolete) To carry out, to bring about.
   • a. 1513, Virgil, “VIII, prologue”, in Gawin Douglas [i.e., Gavin Douglas], transl., edited by [George Dundas], The Æneid of Virgil: Translated into Scottish Verse (Bannatyne Club, Publications; 64, no. 1), volume I, Edinburgh: T. Constable, printer, published 1839, →OCLC, page 448, line 1:

     All is weill done, God wate, weild he hys will.

4. To handle with skill and ease, especially a weapon or tool.
5. To exercise (authority or influence) effectively.
   • 2025 August 27, Dana Suskind, “AI Engineers Need Their Own Hippocratic Oath. Here’s What It Should Say”, in TIME‎^[1]:

     The question isn't whether AI will reshape human society—it's whether its engineers will wield that power thoughtfully.

• bewield
• wieldsome
• wieldy

From Middle English welde, from Old English *wield, ġewield (“power, control, dominion”), from Proto-West Germanic *waldi, from Proto-Germanic *waldiz (“power, might, control”).

• welde, weild, weelde (obsolete)

wield (countable and uncountable, plural wields)

1. Rule, command; power, control, wielding.
   • 1872, George Francis Savage-Armstrong, The tragedy of Israel, volume 2, page 64:

     What boots it if I beat the heathen home,
     And fold the mountains in my wield, and fire […]

   • 1887, Richard Wagner, Siegfried:

     […] telling him of the treasures concealed in the cave, of the mysterious ring and tarnhelmet, possessing which he can hold the wield of the world.

   • 1968, John Allen, Masters of British Drama, page 32:

     All wealth in my wield is, I know by my wit […]

   • 2019, Lele Iturrioz, Summer:

     “Trust me, I will make them listen,” he hissed and for the first time, he used his wield fallaciously, because instead of giving life, he absorbed it from the tree.

• dwile, Wilde, wilde, wiled

wield

1. alternative form of wilde

wield (masculine wielden, feminine, plural or definite wielde)

1. alternative spelling of wíeld

From Old English wieldan (“to control”), a derivative of wealdan (“to govern”), from Proto-West Germanic *waldan. Cognate with German walten, Swedish vålla.

• IPA^(key): /wiːld/

wield

1. To control, to guide or manage.