Wales
/weɪlz/noun
A country that is part of the United Kingdom, occupying the western part of the island of Great Britain.
Did you know?The English name Wales comes from Old English Wealas, a plural word meaning “foreigners” or “Romanized people,” from the same Germanic root that also gave the word Welsh.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*walhaz
“foreign or Romanized person; later, a Celtic speaker”
Old English
OE
wealas
“foreigners; Britons; later, the inhabitants of Wales”
Anglo-Saxon period
English
Walas / Wealas
“the people of Wales; foreign people”
Middle English
English
Wales
“the region inhabited by the Welsh”
Modern English
English
Wales
“the country in western Great Britain”