wn

See also: WN, Wn, wn', and .wn

Egyptian

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

(reconstructed) IPA^(key): (infinitive) /waːn/ → /waːn/ → /waːn/ → /woːn/

(modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /wɛn/
- Conventional anglicization: wen

Verb

2-lit.

(transitive) to open (a door)
- c. 1401 BCE, Amduat of Amenhotep II (tomb of Amenhotep II, KV35) First Hour, closing text, line 9:
  
  wn.n n.k ꜥꜣwj m bntjw
  We open the double doors to you as baboons.
(intransitive) to open up, to permit access to oneself, to open the door (+ n: for (someone))
(transitive) to open (a container)
(transitive, rare) to unlatch (a bolt or latch)
(transitive) to open the way into (a place), to open up, to make (a building, fortress, city, sanctum, tomb, cavern, land, the sky, the underworld, etc.) freely accessible
- c. 1900 BCE, The Instructions of Kagemni (pPrisse/pBN 183) lines 1.1–1.2:
  
  wn ẖn n grw wsḫ st nt hr m mdww
  The tent is open to the quiet man; the place of the man calm in speech is broad.^[1]
(transitive) to open (a path), to make traversable
- c. 1550 BCE – 1295 BCE, Great Hymn to Osiris (Stela of Amenmose, Louvre C 286) line 23:
  
  wꜣt zš.tj mṯnw wn(.w)
  The road is traversable, the paths are open.
(transitive) to spread wide, to open (one’s hands, arms, etc.)
(transitive) to open (one’s eyes, nose, mouth, etc.)
(transitive) to stretch (one’s legs) out for walking
(transitive, Late Egyptian) to let (someone) out of confinement, to release
(transitive, Late Egyptian, of thieves) to break in to, to forcibly open (a building)
(reflexive) to become open, to open

Inflection

Conjugation of wn (biliteral / 2-lit. / 2rad.) — base stem: wn, geminated stem: wnn

infinitival forms			imperative
infinitive	negatival complement	complementary infinitive¹	singular	plural
wn	wnw, wn	wnt	wn, j.wn	wn, j.wn

‘pseudoverbal’ forms
stative stem	periphrastic imperfective²		periphrastic prospective²
wn	ḥr wn	m wn	r wn

suffix conjugation
aspect / mood	active	passive	contingent
aspect / mood	active	passive	aspect / mood	active	passive
perfect	wn.n	wnw, wn	consecutive	wn.jn	active + .tj¹, .tw²
perfect	wn.n	active + .tj¹, .tw²
terminative	wnt
perfective³	wn	active + .tj¹, .tw²	obligative¹	wn.ḫr	active + .tj¹, .tw²
imperfective	wn, j.wn¹	active + .tj¹, .tw²	obligative¹	wn.ḫr	active + .tj¹, .tw²
prospective³	wn	wnn	potentialis¹	wn.kꜣ	active + .tj¹, .tw²
prospective³	wn	active + .tj¹, .tw²
subjunctive	wn, j.wn¹	active + .tj¹, .tw²

verbal adjectives
aspect / mood	relative (incl. nominal / emphatic) forms		participles
aspect / mood	active	passive	active	passive
perfect	wn.n	active + .tj¹, .tw²	—	—
perfective	wn	active + .tj¹, .tw²	wn	wnn, wnnj⁶, wn², wnw^{2 5}, wny^{2 5}
imperfective	j.wn¹, wn, wny, wnw⁵	active + .tj¹, .tw²	j.wn¹, j.wnw^{1 5}, wn, wnj⁶, wny⁶	wn, wnw⁵
prospective	wn, wntj⁷	—	wntj⁴, wnt⁴

¹ Used in Old Egyptian; archaic by Middle Egyptian.
² Used mostly since Middle Egyptian.
³ Archaic or greatly restricted in usage by Middle Egyptian. The perfect has mostly taken over the functions of the perfective, and the subjunctive and periphrastic prospective have mostly replaced the prospective.
⁴ Declines using third-person suffix pronouns instead of adjectival endings: masculine .f/.fj, feminine .s/.sj, dual .snj, plural .sn. ⁵ Only in the masculine singular.
⁶ Only in the masculine.
⁷ Only in the feminine.

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of wn

wn

[Old Kingdom]

[since the Middle Kingdom]

abbreviation

Synonyms

Derived terms

swn

Descendants

Demotic Egyptian: wn
- Coptic: ⲟⲩⲱⲛ (ouōn)

Noun

m

(Late Egyptian) opening of a door

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of wn

wn

abbreviation

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

(modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /wɛn/
- Conventional anglicization: wen

Noun

m

fault, blame

Inflection

Declension of wn (masculine)
singular	wn
dual	wnwj
plural	wnw

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of wn

wn

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

(reconstructed) IPA^(key): /wan/

(modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /wɛn/
- Conventional anglicization: wen

Noun

m

desert hare
Synonym: sẖꜥt

Etymology 4

Pronoun

pl 1. enclitic (‘dependent’) pronoun

Late Egyptian variant of n (“we”)

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of wn

wn

References

“wn (lemma ID 46060)”, “wn (lemma ID 46070)”, “wn (lemma ID 46080)”, “wn (lemma ID 46110)”, and “wn (lemma ID 46020)”, in Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae‎^[1], Corpus issue 20, Web app version 2.5.0, ed. by Tonio Sebastian Richter & Daniel A. Werning […] and Hans-Werner Fischer-Elfert & Peter Dils […], 2004–23 April 2026
Erman, Adolf; Grapow, Hermann (1926), Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache‎^[2], volume 1, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN, pages 307.9, 311.2–312.12, 314.7–314.13
Faulkner, Raymond Oliver (1962), A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN, pages 60–61
James P[eter] Allen (2010), Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, pages 169, 295, 298.
Junge, Friedrich (2005), Late Egyptian Grammar: An Introduction, second English edition, Oxford: Griffith Institute, page 77

^ Alternatively, taking m as imperative (j)m: ‘…the place of the calm man is broad. Don’t speak!’ The first clause can also be interpreted in two different ways. If n represents the preposition n, then ‘The tent is open to the quiet man’; but if it represents the genitival adjective n(j), then ‘The tent of the quiet man is open’. The first interpretation is more appealing semantically, but the second is favored by parallelism with the following clause.
^ Loprieno, Antonio (1995), Ancient Egyptian: A Linguistic Introduction, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 16

Spanish

Adjective

wn (feminine wna, masculine plural wnes, feminine plural wnas) (abbreviation)

(Chile, informal, Internet slang, text messaging) abbreviation of huevón
Wn, me da paja hacer eso.
Dude, I'm too lazy to do that.

Welsh

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ʊn/

Verb

wn

soft mutation of gwn

Mutation

Mutated forms of *gwn*
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
gwn	wn	ngwn	unchanged

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

[1] Alternatively, taking m as imperative (j)m: ‘…the place of the calm man is broad. Don’t speak!’ The first clause can also be interpreted in two different ways. If n represents the preposition n, then ‘The tent is open to the quiet man’; but if it represents the genitival adjective n(j), then ‘The tent of the quiet man is open’. The first interpretation is more appealing semantically, but the second is favored by parallelism with the following clause.

[2] Loprieno, Antonio (1995), Ancient Egyptian: A Linguistic Introduction, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 16

[1]

[2]