# wild

> English word · Adjective · IPA /waɪld/ · frequency rank #1,679

## Definitions
1. Untamed; not domesticated.
2. Untamed; not domesticated.
3. From or relating to wild creatures.
4. Unrestrained or uninhibited.
5. Raucous, unruly, or licentious.
6. Of unregulated and varying frequency.
7. Visibly and overtly anxious; frantic.
8. Furious; very angry.
9. Disheveled, tangled, or untidy.
10. Enthusiastic.
11. Very inaccurate; far off the mark.
12. Exposed to the wind and sea; unsheltered.
13. Hard to steer.
14. Not capable of being represented as a finite closed polygonal chain.
15. Amazing, awesome, unbelievable.
16. Very unexpected; wildly surprising; crazy, diabolical.
17. Able to stand in for others, e.g. a card in games, or a text character in computer pattern matching.
18. Of an audio recording: intended to be synchronized with film or video but recorded separately.

## Etymology
From Middle English wild, wilde, from Old English wilde, from Proto-West Germanic *wilþī, from Proto-Germanic *wilþijaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂welh₁- (“hair, wool, grass, ear (of corn), forest”).
Cognates
Cognate with West Frisian wyld, Dutch wild, German wild, Danish vild, Swedish vild, Norwegian vill, Icelandic villtur.

## Easily confused with
- **WL** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wild-vs-wl)
- **win** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wild-vs-win)
- **wit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wild-vs-wit)
- **wis** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wild-vs-wis)
- **wiz** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wild-vs-wiz)
- **WMD** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wild-vs-wmd)
- **wim** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wild-vs-wim)
- **with** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wild-vs-with)
- **will** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wild-vs-will)
- **word** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wild-vs-word)
- **wish** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wild-vs-wish)
- **wind** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wild-vs-wind)
- **wood** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wild-vs-wood)
- **wine** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wild-vs-wine)
- **wins** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wild-vs-wins)
- **wing** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wild-vs-wing)
- **wise** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wild-vs-wise)
- **wire** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wild-vs-wire)
- **wolf** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wild-vs-wolf)
- **wipe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wild-vs-wipe)

## Common misspellings (6)
`iwld`, `widl`, `wildd`, `willd`, `wlid`, `wwild`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/wild