# Wight
**Wight** is an archaic English noun meaning a living creature or human being, descended from [Old English](https://www.edgepedia.org/old-english) *wiht* ("thing, creature"), and in modern usage chiefly a word for supernatural beings, especially the undead of fantasy fiction.[1](https://www.etymonline.com/word/wight) The word has two distinct strands of meaning: in ordinary historical English it simply named a person or creature, while in [Old Norse](https://www.edgepedia.org/old-norse) and modern fantasy it names spirits, revenants, and monsters.[1](https://www.etymonline.com/word/wight) • [2](https://folkway.org/wiki/V%C3%A6ttir)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Core meaning | Old English *wiht*: "living being male or female, person; something, anything"; also "unnatural or uncanny creature"[1](https://www.etymonline.com/word/wight) |
| Etymology | Middle English *wight*, *wiȝt*, from Old English *wiht*, from Proto-West Germanic *wihti, from Proto-Germanic *wihtiz, from Proto-Indo-European *wekti- ("cause, sake, thing")[2](https://folkway.org/wiki/V%C3%A6ttir) |
| Cognates | Old Saxon *wiht*, Dutch *wicht*, German *Wicht*, Old Norse *vættr*, Gothic *waihts*[1](https://www.etymonline.com/word/wight) |
| Surviving relatives | A doublet of *whit*; survives in *aught*, *naught*, and *not*[1](https://www.etymonline.com/word/wight) |
| Adjective | A separate Middle English adjective *wight*, "brave, strong, nimble", from Old Norse *vígt*[3](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wight) |
| Fantasy usage | Tolkien's Barrow-wights in *The Lord of the Rings*; a recurring undead monster in Dungeons & Dragons since 1974[4](https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Barrow-wights) • [2](https://folkway.org/wiki/V%C3%A6ttir) |
| Isle of Wight | Unrelated to the word; the island's name comes from Latin *Vectis* (c. 150), originally Celtic[1](https://www.etymonline.com/word/wight) |
## Etymology and cognates
The noun runs back through [Middle English](https://www.edgepedia.org/middle-english) *wight* or *wiȝt* to Old English *wiht*, from Proto-West Germanic *wihti and Proto-Germanic *wihtiz, which is traced to the Proto-Indo-European root *wekti- ("cause, sake, thing"), from *wekʷ- ("to say, tell").[2](https://folkway.org/wiki/V%C3%A6ttir) The Online Etymology Dictionary notes that the Indo-European reconstruction is attributed to Watkins, while Boutkan gives the word no Indo-European etymology at all, so the ulterior connections remain uncertain.[1](https://www.etymonline.com/word/wight)
The Germanic cognates are broad. [Old Saxon](https://www.edgepedia.org/old-saxon) *wiht* meant "thing" and, in the plural, "demons"; [Old High German](https://www.edgepedia.org/old-high-german) and Middle High German *wiht* meant creature, being, or thing, especially of elves and dwarfs; German *Wicht* means creature or little child; Old Norse *vættr* meant living creature or thing; and Gothic *waihts* appears only in negative phrases such as *ni ... waiht*, "nothing".[5](https://wehd.com/103/Wight_sb.html) The Old Norse descendants survive as Swedish *vätte*, Danish *vætte*, and Icelandic *vættur*, words for underground creatures, gnomes, or elves.[1](https://www.etymonline.com/word/wight) • [3](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wight)
The word also left everyday debris in English. By phonetic change it is a doublet of *whit* ("not a whit"), and it survives inside *aught* (Old English *awiht*, "e'er a whit"), *naught* (Old English *nawiht*, literally "no whit"), and *not*.[1](https://www.etymonline.com/word/wight) The adjective *naughty* descends from the same negative compound, which in Old English meant "good for nothing" and by the mid-sixteenth century had narrowed to "morally bad, wicked".[1](https://www.etymonline.com/word/wight)
A second, unrelated word *wight* exists as an adjective meaning brave, valorous, strong, or nimble, borrowed into Middle English from Old Norse *vígt*, neuter of *vígr* ("skilled in fighting, of age").[3](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wight) [Dictionary.com](https://www.edgepedia.org/dictionary-com) dates this borrowing to 1175 to 1225.[6](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/wight) Malory's *Le Morte Darthur* uses it of a young knight "stronge and wyght", and the ballad *Robin Hood and the Monk* speaks of "twelve of thy wight yeomen".[3](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wight)
## Historical meanings in English
In Old English the word covered anything in existence: a living being of either sex, a person, or simply "something".[1](https://www.etymonline.com/word/wight) • [2](https://folkway.org/wiki/V%C3%A6ttir) It could also denote an unnatural or uncanny creature; the earliest cited use in Murray's *New English Dictionary* is from *Beowulf*, line 120, where a *wiht unhælo* is described as "grim and grædiʓ" (grim and greedy).[5](https://wehd.com/103/Wight_sb.html)
In Middle English the senses multiplied. The word could mean a creature or being, a person, a demon or monster, or a small amount, the sense that survives as *whit*.[3](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wight) One study of Middle English usage notes that "wight" designates non-human creatures in some contexts, and that in apocalyptic writing it frequently referred to the four beasts of the apocalypse.[7](https://etd.library.emory.edu/downloads/m039k586q?locale=en)
**Literary usage.** The noun remained current in literary English into the nineteenth century. Spenser's *The Faerie Queene* (1590 to 1596) writes "That every wight to shrowd it did constrain"; Shakespeare uses it in *The Merry Wives of Windsor* ("O base Hungarian wight!") and in *Othello* ("She was a wight, if ever such wight were").[2](https://folkway.org/wiki/V%C3%A6ttir) [Washington Irving](https://www.edgepedia.org/washington-irving)'s "[The Legend of Sleepy Hollow](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-legend-of-sleepy-hollow)" (1820) introduces "a worthy wight of the name of Ichabod Crane", and Melville uses it in *Moby-Dick* (1851).[2](https://folkway.org/wiki/V%C3%A6ttir) • [3](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wight) Modern dictionaries mark the noun as archaic, with the residual sense "a human being", often used ironically or humorously.[6](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/wight) • [8](https://classic.net.bible.org/lexicon.php/lexicon.php?word=wight)
## Wights in Norse tradition
The Old Norse cognate *vættr* (plural *vættir*) is the term customarily rendered "wight" in English treatments of Norse belief; the Anglo-Saxon form *wiht* is the direct ancestor of the English word, which occurs frequently in ballads.[9](https://mahabodhi.saranagamana.org/studies/texts/other/Norse-legends.pdf) Originally the word had the general meaning "a thing", a signification still visible in Modern Norwegian dialect *ikkje vetta*, "nothing".[9](https://mahabodhi.saranagamana.org/studies/texts/other/Norse-legends.pdf) In Scandinavian folklore the *vættir* came to encompass many kinds of magical creatures, often invisible, and in Danish and Norwegian usage *vætte* and *vette* typically refer to supernatural beings from folklore, especially those living underground or near the home, such as dwarfs and nisser.[2](https://folkway.org/wiki/V%C3%A6ttir)
A specific class, the *landvættir* (land-wights), were guardian spirits of the land. A study of these beings finds that Old Norse *landvættir* were associated with shape changing, fate, protection, guardianship, prosperity, and presumably cult, and that they share many features with other supernatural beings such as *álfar* (elves), *bergbúi* (mountain-dwellers), and *haugbúi* (mound-dwellers), showing how thoroughly interrelated these categories were in the minds of Icelandic authors.[10](https://publications.hse.ru/pubs/share/direct/480089509.pdf) The Gulathing's law ordered the king and bishop to enquire whether men believed in *Land-vættir*, the *genii locorum* who dwell in tumuli and cataracts.[11](https://wordandsilence.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/mythology-of-all-races-2-eddic.pdf) [Parallels](https://www.edgepedia.org/parallels) to the Norse word occur widely in the Germanic region: Old High German *wiht* was applied to spirits and men, like the English "wight", which may mean a person as well as a spirit.[11](https://wordandsilence.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/mythology-of-all-races-2-eddic.pdf)
## From barrow-wights to fantasy undead
The compound **barrow-wight** is recorded by 1869 in Eiríkr Magnússon and [William Morris](https://www.edgepedia.org/william-morris)'s translation of *Grettis saga*, where it renders the mound-dwelling revenant of the Icelandic sagas.[1](https://www.etymonline.com/word/wight) The Old Norse term for such a creature is *haugbúi* ("mound-dweller"), one of several words, alongside *draugr* and *aptrganga*, used for the reanimated dead of the sagas; the *haugbúar* are identified as the source of Tolkien's barrow-wights.[12](https://urresearch.rochester.edu/fileDownloadForInstitutionalItem.action%3Bjsessionid%3DFA6091523A816CAB825F59E96CD14C6E?itemFileId=195142&itemId=39263)
[J. R. R. Tolkien](https://www.edgepedia.org/j-r-r-tolkien) made the word famous in *The Lord of the Rings*, where the Barrow-wights are evil spirits sent by the [Witch-king of Angmar](https://www.edgepedia.org/witch-king-of-angmar) to inhabit the ancient burial mounds of the Barrow-downs.[4](https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Barrow-wights) • [13](https://www.tolkienfile.com/races/barrow-wights) During composition, drawing on *Hrómundar saga Gripssonar*, Tolkien at first described the Black Riders as horsed Wights and considered the wights and Ringwraiths the same kind of creature; the identification was dropped in the published work, though the wights remained spirits sent by the Witch-king.[4](https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Barrow-wights) A comparison of Tolkien's wights with the saga draugr notes that both inhabit a human body rather than being mere ghosts, but that Tolkien's wights, unlike the draugr, are not the reanimated corpses of the barrow itself and are not defeated in physical combat.[14](https://arno.uvt.nl/show.cgi?fid=150034)
From Tolkien the word passed into the fantasy genre generally. [Dungeons & Dragons](https://www.edgepedia.org/dungeons-and-dragons) included a monster called "Wight", a kind of undead, in 1974, and it has since become a recurring form of undead in other games and settings, including *Vampire: The Masquerade*.[2](https://folkway.org/wiki/V%C3%A6ttir) George R. R. Martin's *A Song of Ice and Fire* uses wights for its animated dead, and the term is now a standard fantasy monster name.[2](https://folkway.org/wiki/V%C3%A6ttir) • [15](https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Wights) One roleplaying source summarizes the shift plainly: the word "wight" originated as a vague Germanic term meaning "creature" and was eventually applied to the Scandinavian draugr, the walking corpse of a Nordic warrior.[16](https://legendaryquest.com/books/Mythmagica/Beta11/MM_Celtic_Creatures_and_Nordic_Nightmares_Beta11d.pdf)
## The Isle of Wight
The word is unrelated to the [Isle of Wight](https://www.edgepedia.org/isle-of-wight), the island off the south coast of England. The island's name comes from Latin *Vectis* (c. 150), originally Celtic, possibly meaning "place of the division".[1](https://www.etymonline.com/word/wight)
## References
1. [Douglas Harper, "Etymology of wight," Online Etymology Dictionary](https://www.etymonline.com/word/wight)
2. ["Wight," Folkway Wiki (Vættir)](https://folkway.org/wiki/V%C3%A6ttir)
3. ["wight," Wiktionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wight)
4. ["Barrow-wights," Tolkien Gateway](https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Barrow-wights)
5. ["Wight sb.," World English Historical Dictionary (Murray's New English Dictionary, 1928, rev. 2024)](https://wehd.com/103/Wight_sb.html)
6. ["Wight," Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/wight)
7. [Zawacki dissertation, Emory University](https://etd.library.emory.edu/downloads/m039k586q?locale=en)
8. ["wight," NETBible lexicon (Webster)](https://classic.net.bible.org/lexicon.php/lexicon.php?word=wight)
9. [Norse Mythology: Legends of Gods and Heroes (The Vettir)](https://mahabodhi.saranagamana.org/studies/texts/other/Norse-legends.pdf)
10. [Study of landvættir/vættr as guardians, HSE Publications](https://publications.hse.ru/pubs/share/direct/480089509.pdf)
11. [John Arnott MacCulloch, Eddic Mythology, Chapter 21](https://wordandsilence.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/mythology-of-all-races-2-eddic.pdf)
12. [Zawacki dissertation, University of Rochester (draugr terminology)](https://urresearch.rochester.edu/fileDownloadForInstitutionalItem.action%3Bjsessionid%3DFA6091523A816CAB825F59E96CD14C6E?itemFileId=195142&itemId=39263)
13. ["Barrow-wights," The Tolkien File](https://www.tolkienfile.com/races/barrow-wights)
14. ["Similarities" (Tolkien's Wights and the draugr), UvT repository](https://arno.uvt.nl/show.cgi?fid=150034)
15. ["Wights," Tolkien Gateway](https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Wights)
16. [Celtic Creatures and Nordic Nightmares (Mythmagica)](https://legendaryquest.com/books/Mythmagica/Beta11/MM_Celtic_Creatures_and_Nordic_Nightmares_Beta11d.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Philosophy, religion, and mythology › Mythology and folklore › Legendary creatures and beings › Ghosts and the undead*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license