# witness

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈwɪtnɪs/ · frequency rank #2,925

## Definitions
1. Attestation of a fact or event; testimony.
2. One who sees or has personal knowledge of something.
3. Someone called to give evidence in a court.
4. One who is called upon to witness an event or action, such as a wedding or the signing of a document.
5. Something that serves as evidence; a sign or token.
6. A particular version of a text (seen as providing testimony of archetype or other earlier version)
7. An additional database server instance used in failover scenarios to decide whether the mirror should take over.

## Etymology
From Middle English witnesse, from Old English ġewitnes, equivalent to wit + -ness. Cognate with Middle Dutch wetenisse (“witness, testimony”), Old High German gewiznessi (“testimony”), Icelandic vitni (“witness”).

## Easily confused with
- **witnesses** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/witness-vs-witnesses)
- **witnessed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/witness-vs-witnessed)
- **wines** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wines-vs-witness)
- **withers** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/withers-vs-witness)
- **winless** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/winless-vs-witness)
- **wetness** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wetness-vs-witness)
- **waitress** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/waitress-vs-witness)
- **whiteness** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whiteness-vs-witness)

## Common misspellings (9)
`iwtness`, `wintess`, `witenss`, `witnes`, `witnness`, `witnses`, `wittness`, `wtiness`, `wwitness`

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