Welked

Part of speech: verb, adjective

Definitions

1. Having become shriveled, wilted, or dried up typically due to loss of moisture or exposure to heat or air
2. Describing a state where living tissues, especially plants or flowers, have withered, lost freshness, or begun to decay from lack of water or nourishment
3. Referring to something that has drooped or faded, losing firmness and vitality as a result of drying out or aging

Etymology: The past tense of "welk" carries a sense of softness that its modern use has largely lost. The verb descends from a Proto-Germanic root meaning "soft, withered," the same root that gave the adjective "welk," so the core idea was a plant or body going limp rather than merely drying out. Middle English "welken" entered the record from a continental Germanic source, and its close relatives remain in Dutch "welken" and German "welken," both meaning to wither or fade. Older English had its own related words. Old English "wealwian" meant to fade or wither, and "wlacu" meant tepid or lukewarm, which hints that the root once connected to a loss of vigour or warmth as well as to dryness. A more speculative link, proposed by the German etymologist Friedrich Kluge, ties the root to "wulkną," meaning cloud, though the connection is uncertain.

Synonyms: wilted, shrivelled, dried

Antonyms: fresh, bloomed, grew