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PlainSpell

wield

/wiːld/verb, noun

wield is spelled W-I-E-L-D: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.6 times per million words in written English, the 22,073rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, wield means “To handle with skill and ease, especially a weapon or tool” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in wield?

Letters5: W-I-E-L-D
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing1.6 times per million words; the 22,073rd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Sounds like

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is wield?

Wield appears 1.6 times per million words in written English, the 22,073rd 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 wield?

  • /wiːld/

Wield has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-wield.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with wield

Sounds like: weald, wheeled (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

Forms of wield

  • wields present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • wielding participle, present
  • wielded participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does wield mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To handle with skill and ease, especially a weapon or tool.

  2. 2

    To exercise (authority or influence) effectively.

  3. 3

    obsoleteTo command, rule over; to possess or own.

  4. 4

    obsoleteTo control, to guide or manage.

  5. 5

    obsoleteTo carry out, to bring about.

noun

  1. 1

    Rule, command; power, control, wielding.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Wield in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchmanier (to handle with skill and ease), brandir (to handle or use a weapon), exercer (to exercise authority or influence)
Germanbeherrschen (to handle with skill and ease), führen (to handle or use a weapon), ausüben (to exercise authority or influence)
Portuguesemanusear (to handle with skill and ease), empunhar, brandir (to handle or use a weapon), exercer (to exercise authority or influence)
Spanishmanejar (to handle with skill and ease), empuñar, esgrimir (to handle or use a weapon)

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 wield come from?

From Middle English welden, from the merger of Old English wealdan (“to control, rule”) (strong class 7) and Old English wieldan (“to control, subdue”) (weak). Both verbs derive from Proto-West Germanic *waldan and *waldijan, respectively; and are ultimately from Proto-Germanic *waldaną (“to rule”). The reason for the merger was that in Middle English the -d in the stem made it hard to distinguish between strong and weak forms in the past tense.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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