wealth

noun

Etymology: Inherited from Middle English welth, welthe (“happiness, prosperity”), from Old English *welþ, *welþu, from Proto-West Germanic *waliþu (“wealth”). Alternatively, possibly an alteration (due to similar words in -th: compare helth (“health”), derth (“dearth”)) of wele (“wealth, well-being, weal”), from Old English wela (“wealth, prosperity”), from Proto-Germanic *walô (“well-being, prosperity”), from Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“good, best”); equivalent to weal + -th (abstract nominal suffix). Cognate with West Frisian wielde (“wealth”), Dutch weelde (“wealth”), Low German Weelde (“wealth”), Old High German welida, welitha (“wealth”). Related also to German Wohl (“welfare, well-being, weal”), Danish vel (“weal, welfare”), Swedish väl (“well-being, weal”). More at weal, well.

1. Riches; a great amount of valuable assets or material possessions.

   “Money talks, but true wealth whispers.”

2. A great amount; an abundance or plenty.

   “She brings a wealth of knowledge to the project.”

   “There is a wealth of carved wood inside: from pulpit to pews, screens to lectern, and a large medieval chest made from a hollowed-out log of bog-oak with a massive lid.”

3. Prosperity; well-being; happiness.

   “I once did lend my body for his wealth, / Which, but for him that had your husband's ring, / Had quite miscarried: […]”

   “Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth.”