Nearby Words

winsomeness

[win-suhm] Origin

win·some

[win-suhm]
adjective
sweetly or innocently charming; winning; engaging: a winsome smile.

Origin:
before 900; Middle English winsom, Old English wynsum, equivalent to wyn joy (see wynn) + -sum -some1

win·some·ly, adverb
win·some·ness, noun
un·win·some, adjective
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Winsomeness is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
Collins
World English Dictionary
winsome (ˈwɪnsəm)
 
adj
charming; winning; engaging: a winsome smile
 
[Old English wynsum, from wynn joy (related to Old High German wunnia, German Wonne) + -sum-some1]
 
'winsomely
 
adv
 
'winsomeness
 
n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

winsome
O.E. wynsum "agreeable, pleasant," from wynn "pleasure, delight" (cf. Ger. Wonne "joy, delight;" see win) + -sum "-some." Apparently surviving only in northern English dialect for 400 years until revived 18c. by Hamilton, Burns, and other Scot. poets.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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