NYT Dictionary

WEALTH

/wɛlθ/

NounWELTHGrade 4

Accepted in official NYT Spelling Bee puzzle years: 2019

Meaning

Riches; a great amount of valuable assets or material possessions.

Etymology

Origin: Old English

Inherited from Middle English welth, welthe (“happiness, prosperity”), from Old English *welþ, *welþu, from Proto-West Germanic *waliþu (“wealth”). Alternatively, possibly an alteration (due to similar words in -th: compare helth (“health”), derth (“dearth”)) of wele (“wealth, well-being, weal”), from Old English wela (“wealth, prosperity”), from Proto-Germanic *walô (“well-being, prosperity”), from Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“good, best”); equivalent to weal + -th (abstract nominal suffix). Cognate with West Frisian wielde (“wealth”), Dutch weelde (“wealth”), Low German Weelde (“wealth”), Old High German welida, welitha (“wealth”). Related also to German Wohl (“welfare, well-being, weal”), Danish vel (“weal, welfare”), Swedish väl (“well-being, weal”). More at weal, well.

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms

abundanceaffluencecheeseeasefortunesubstanceMammonopulenceplentyrichdom

Antonyms

poverty

NYT Puzzle Appearances

No published puzzle dates on file for this word yet. It is part of the official NYT Spelling Bee word list for 2019.