waist
/weɪst/
waist noun: the part of the body between the pelvis and the stomach.
Noun
waist (plural waists)
- The part of the body between the pelvis and the stomach.
- A part of a piece of clothing that covers the waist.
- The narrow connection between the thorax and abdomen in certain insects (e.g., bees, ants and wasps).
- The middle portion of the hull of a ship or the fuselage of an aircraft.
- That part of the upper deck of a ship between the quarterdeck and the forecastle.
- There he stood, very quietly overlooking some sailmakers who were mending a top-sail in the waist.1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 18”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC
- The middle part of anything.
- The waist of a bell widens into the lip.
- In the dead vast and middle of the nightc. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
waist meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
waist in Hindi
- part of the body
- कमर kamar, कटि kaṭi
waist in Tamil
- part of the body
- இடுப்பு iṭuppu
waist in Marathi
- waist
- कंबर kambar, मध्य madhya
- waist, hips, buttocks
- कटि kaṭi
waist in Urdu
- part of the body
- کمر kamar
More languagesFewer languages
- waist in Bengali
- কোমর kōmor, কাঁকাল kãkal
- waist in Telugu
- నడుము naḍumu
- waist in Malayalam
- ഇടുപ്പ് iṭuppŭ
- waist in Kannada
- ಸೊಂಟ soṇṭa
- waist in Punjabi
- ਕਮਰ kamar
- waist in Gujarati
- કમર kamar
- waist in Sanskrit
- कटि kaṭi, मध्यम madhyamá
- waist in Assamese
- কঁকাল kõkal
- waist in Nepali
- कटि kaṭi, कम्मर kammar
- waist in Tagalog
- baywang, bewang
- waist in Arabic
- خَصْر ḵaṣr, وَسَط wasaṭ
- waist in Malay
- pinggang
- waist in Indonesian
- pinggang
- waist in Persian
- کمر kamar
- waist in Thai
- เอว eeo, สะเอว sà-eeo, กะเอว gà-eeo, บั้นเอว
- waist in Vietnamese
- eo, eo lưng
- waist in Myanmar
- ခါး hka:
Examples of waist in a sentence
- As I lay on my back, a pain shot down from my neck to my waist.
- These trousers are too big around the waist. They won't stay up.
- The belt just barely went around his waist.
Forms of waist
| plural | waists |
|---|---|
| alternative form (obsolete) | waste |
| alternative form (obsolete) | wast |
Origin of waist
Inherited from Middle English wast (“waist”), probably from Old English *wæst, *wǣst, *weaxt, *wæhst, from Proto-West Germanic *wahstu, from Proto-Germanic *wahstuz (“growth, development, stature, build”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂weks- (“to multiply, increase”). Cognate with Middle English wacste (“growth, increase, might, power”), Middle High German wahst (“growth”), Danish vækst (“growth”), Swedish växt (“growth, development, size”), Icelandic vöxtur (“growth”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌷𐍃𐍄𐌿𐍃 (wahstus, “growth”). Related to Old English weaxan (“to grow, increase”). More at wax.
Words formed from waist
- dropped waist
- drop waist
- emancipation waist
- empire waist
- empire-waist
- pantywaist
- paperbag waist
- sheer-to-waist
- shirtwaist
- shirt-waist
- shirt waist
- shirtwaister
- snatched waist
- strip to the waist
- waist bag
- waistband
- waistbelt
- waistboat
- waist card
- waist chain
- waist cincher
- waistcloth
- waistcoat
- waist-deep
- waist-deep in the Big Muddy
- waisted
- waister
- waist-high
- waisting
- waistless
- waistline
- waistlong
- waist overalls
- waistwrap
- wasp waist
Phrases with waist
Words that rhyme with waist
Questions about waist
- What does waist mean?
- Waist means the part of the body between the pelvis and the stomach.
- What is waist in Hindi?
- Waist in Hindi is कमर (kamar), कटि (kaṭi). See Waist meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is waist?
- Waist is a noun.
- How do you pronounce waist?
- Waist is pronounced /weɪst/.
- What is the plural of waist?
- The plural of waist is waists.
Words near waist in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: waist (page history and authors); कंबर (Marathi) (page history and authors); কাঁকাল (Bengali) (page history and authors); ਕਮਰ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); कटि (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); কঁকাল (Assamese) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-waste.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-waist.wav.
Cite this entry: “waist.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/waist. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.