wander
wan·der/ˈwɑndɚ/verb, noun
wander is spelled W-A-N-D-E-R: 6 letters and 2 syllables (wan·der). It appears 4.7 times per million words in written English, the 11,685th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, wander means “To move without purpose or specified destination; often in search of livelihood” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in wander?
| Letters | 6: W-A-N-D-E-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: wan·der |
| In writing | 4.7 times per million words; the 11,685th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is wander?
Wander appears 4.7 times per million words in written English, the 11,685th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce wander?
- UK /ˈwɒndə/
- US /ˈwɑndɚ/
- /ˈwʊndə/
Wander has 2 syllables, split wan·der in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-wander.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with wander?
7 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as wander from its last stressed vowel (/ɑndəɹ/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: warden.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of wander
- wanders present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- wandering participle, present
- wandered participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does wander mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To move without purpose or specified destination; often in search of livelihood.
to wander over the fields
- 2
To stray; stray from one's course; err.
A writer wanders from his subject.
- 3
To commit adultery.
- 4
To go somewhere indirectly or at varying speeds; to move in a curved path.
- 5
Of the mind, to lose focus or clarity of argument or attention.
noun
- 1
An act or instance of wandering.
to go for a wander in the park
- 2
Deviation from a correct or normal value.
baseline wander in ECG signals
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Wander in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | errer, vaguer, divaguer |
| German | umherstreifen, umherstreichen, herumziehen, stromern, zigeunern, schlendern |
| Portuguese | vagar, perambular, vadiar , vagueação, perambulação |
| Spanish | vagar, divagar, errar, deambular, yirar, tunar |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does wander come from?
From Middle English wandren, from Old English wandrian (“to wander, roam, fly around, hover; change; stray, err”), from Proto-West Germanic *wandarōn (“to wander”), from *wandōn (“to turn, change”) + *-rōn (frequentative suffix). Cognate with Scots wander (“to wander”), German wandern (“to wander, roam, hike, migrate”), Dutch wandelen (“to wander, roam, hike, migrate”), Danish vandre (“to wander, roam, hike, migrate”), Swedish vandra (“to wander, hike”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).