welcome

From Middle English welcome, wolcume, wulcume, wilcume, from Old English wilcuma (“a wished-for guest”; compare also wilcume (“welcome!”, interjection)), from Proto-Germanic *wiljakumô (“a comer, a wished-for guest”), 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, possibly under the influence of French bienvenu. Cognate with Scots walcome (“welcome”), West Frisian wolkom (“welcome”), Dutch welkom (“welcome”) (earlier willecome), German willkommen (“welcome”), Danish and Norwegian velkommen (“welcome”), Swedish välkommen (“welcome”), Icelandic velkomin (“welcome”), Faroese vælkomin (“welcome”), Low Saxon: willkamen.

Similar constructions are common in Romance languages, such as Italian benvenuto, Spanish bienvenido, French bienvenu, Catalan benvingut, Portuguese bem-vindo and Romanian bun venit, each meaning “[may you have fared] well [in] coming [here]”. These do not derive from Classic Latin, where a similar construction is not found, and presumably are instead the result of a calque from, considering the ruling elite of the barbarian kingdoms which succeeded the Western Roman Empire, a Germanic language to Proto-Romance (Vulgar Latin; see Latin *bene venutus, and compare *perdono for similar historical phenomenon).

• (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada) enPR: wĕlʹkəm, IPA^(key): /ˈwɛlkəm/

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• Rhymes: -ɛlkəm
• Hyphenation: wel‧come

welcome (comparative more welcome, superlative most welcome)

1. Whose arrival is a cause of joy; received with gladness; admitted willingly to the house, entertainment, or company.

   a welcome visitor

   Refugees welcome in London!

   • (Can we date this quote?) William Cowper

     When the glad soul is made Heaven's welcome guest.

2. Producing gladness.

   a welcome present;  welcome news

   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 7, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     “A very welcome, kind, useful present, that means to the parish. By the way, Hopkins, let this go no further. We don't want the tale running round that a rich person has arrived. Churchill, my dear fellow, we have such greedy sharks, and wolves in lamb's clothing.  […] ”

3. Free to have or enjoy gratuitously.

   You are welcome to the use of my library.

   • 1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, OCLC 5661828:

     As a political system democracy seems to me extraordinarily foolish, but I would not go out of my way to protest against it. My servant is, so far as I am concerned, welcome to as many votes as he can get. I would very gladly make mine over to him if I could.

welcome

1. Greeting given upon someone's arrival.
2. (nonstandard, especially Southern US) Ellipsis of you're welcome.

When used with reference to a place, "welcome" is always followed by "to". The signs often seen in many non-English-speaking countries welcoming tourists with "in", such as "Welcome in Heidelberg!", sound unnatural to English speakers and show interference from other languages, many of which use a cognate of "in" in this situation, and especially with a cognate of "welcome".

welcome (plural welcomes)

1. The act of greeting someone’s arrival, especially by saying "Welcome!"; reception.
2. The utterance of such a greeting.
3. Kind reception of a guest or newcomer.

   We entered the house and found a ready welcome.

   • (Can we date this quote?) Shenstone

     his warmest welcome at an inn

   • (Can we date this quote?) South

     Truth finds an entrance and a welcome too.

4. The state of being a welcome guest.
   • 1992, Dana Stabenow, A Cold Day for Murder, →ISBN, page 42:

     The townspeople crossed freely from bank to bank, and it stayed that way until breakup in March or April or, in years when winter outstayed its welcome, maybe even May.

• wear out one's welcome

welcome (third-person singular simple present welcomes, present participle welcoming, simple past and past participle welcomed)

1. To affirm or greet the arrival of someone, especially by saying "Welcome!".
   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 5, in The Celebrity:

     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.

2. To accept something willingly or gladly.

   We welcome suggestions for improvement.

   • 2019, VOA Learning English (public domain)

     Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang welcomed cooperation with South Korea.

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• welcome back
• welcome home