welcome
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: wĕlʹkəm
ipa: /ˈwɛl.kəm/
rhymes: -ɛlkəm
Forms: form: welcomes
form: welcoming
form: welcomed
form: welcomed
Etymology: From Middle English welcome, wolcume, wulcume, wilcume, from Old English wilcuma (“a wished-for guest”; compare also wilcume (“welcome!”, interjection)), from Proto-West Germanic *willjakwemō, from Proto-Germanic *wiljakwemô (“a wished-for arrival or guest”), possibly from *wiljakwemaną (“to be welcome”), equivalent to will (“desire”) + come (“comer, arrival”). The component wil- was replaced by wel- when the sense “guest” of the second component was no longer understood, likely under influence from the adverb well. Cognate with Scots walcome, West Frisian wolkom, Dutch welkom (earlier willecome), German willkommen, German Low German willkamen, Danish velkommen, Norwegian Bokmål velkommen, Norwegian Nynorsk velkomen, velkommen, Swedish välkommen, Icelandic velkominn, Faroese vælkomin, and Old French wilecome (whence Middle French willecomme (“welcome”)), from Germanic.
The verb is from Middle English welcomen, wolcumen, wilcumen, from Old English wellcumian, wylcumian, wilcumian (“to welcome, receive gladly”).
Similar constructions are found in Modern Greek καλώς ορίσατε (kalós orísate), South Slavic languages, such as Bulgarian добре́ дошъ́л (dobré došǎ́l), Serbo-Croatian dobrodošao,
and also in Romance languages, such as Italian benvenuto, Spanish bienvenido, French bienvenu, Catalan benvingut, Portuguese bem-vindo and Romanian bun venit, meaning “[may you have fared] well [in] coming [here]”. These Romance terms do not derive from a Classical Latin root, as no similar construction in Latin is found to exist, but are instead presumed (considering the ruling elite of the Germanic kingdoms which succeeded the Western Roman Empire) to be the result of a calque from a Germanic language into Proto-Romance (Vulgar Latin; see Latin *bene venūtus, and compare perdōnō and compāniō for similar historical calques).
Senses: examples: text: But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud,[…]. By the time we reached the house we were thanking our stars she had come. Mrs. Cooke came out from under the port-cochere to welcome her.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
text: Finnley is the fourth daughter of Jason and Kylie Kelce, having already welcomed Wyatt, Elliotte and Bennett to the family.
ref: 2025 April 2, Ben Morse, “‘Whoop, there she is!’: Jason and Kylie Kelce announce birth of fourth daughter”, in CNN:
glosses: To affirm or greet the arrival of someone, especially by saying "Welcome!".
examples: text: We welcome suggestions for improvement.
text: CPS MerseyCheshire welcomes the jailing of Helen Dove who conned her friend into giving up her job for a dream post that never existed. Kimberley McDonnell lost around £50,000 because of the fraudster.
ref: 2020 January 29, “Woman jailed for conning her friend into giving up her job for a dream post that never existed”, in CPS Mersey-Cheshire, London: Crown Prosecution Service, retrieved 02 Apr 2020:
text: Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang welcomed cooperation with South Korea.
ref: 2019, VOA Learning English (public domain)
glosses: To accept something willingly or gladly.
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from the adjective, noun, or verb welcome
word: bewelcome
sense: Terms derived from the adjective, noun, or verb welcome
word: glass of welcome
sense: Terms derived from the adjective, noun, or verb welcome
word: overstay one's welcome
sense: Terms derived from the adjective, noun, or verb welcome
word: unwelcome
sense: Terms derived from the adjective, noun, or verb welcome
word: unwelcomed
sense: Terms derived from the adjective, noun, or verb welcome
word: unwelcoming
sense: Terms derived from the adjective, noun, or verb welcome
word: unwelcomingly
sense: Terms derived from the adjective, noun, or verb welcome
word: unwelcomingness
sense: Terms derived from the adjective, noun, or verb welcome
word: wear out one's welcome
sense: Terms derived from the adjective, noun, or verb welcome
word: welcome back
sense: Terms derived from the adjective, noun, or verb welcome
word: welcome home
sense: Terms derived from the adjective, noun, or verb welcome
word: welcome-home-husband-though-never-so-drunk
sense: Terms derived from the adjective, noun, or verb welcome
word: welcome mat
sense: Terms derived from the adjective, noun, or verb welcome
word: welcomer
sense: Terms derived from the adjective, noun, or verb welcome
word: welcome swallow
sense: Terms derived from the adjective, noun, or verb welcome
word: welcome to my world
sense: Terms derived from the adjective, noun, or verb welcome
word: Welcome Wagon
sense: Terms derived from the adjective, noun, or verb welcome
word: welcoming
sense: Terms derived from the adjective, noun, or verb welcome
word: welcomingly
sense: Terms derived from the adjective, noun, or verb welcome
word: welcomingness
sense: Terms derived from the adjective, noun, or verb welcome
word: you're welcome
Related terms: welcome back
welcome home