overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

wallow.

To roll oneself about in something dirty, for example in mud.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈwɒ.ləʊ/UK
  1. To roll oneself about in something dirty, for example in mud.

    intransitive
    Pigs wallow in the mud.
  2. To move lazily or heavily in any medium.

    intransitive
  3. To immerse oneself in, to occupy oneself with, metaphorically.

    figuratively · intransitive
    She wallowed in her misery.
  4. To live or exist in filth or in a sickening manner.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English walowen, walewen, walwen, welwen, from Old English wealwian (“to roll”), from Proto-West Germanic *walwōn, variant of *walwijan, from Proto-Germanic *walwijaną (“to roll”), from Proto-Indo-European *welw-, from Proto-Indo-European *welH- (“to turn, wind, roll”). Cognate with Latin volvō (“roll, tumble”, verb).

noun/ˈwɒ.ləʊ/UK
  1. An instance of wallowing.

    intransitive
  2. A pool of water or mud in which animals wallow, or the depression left by them in the ground.

    intransitive
  3. A kind of rolling walk.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English walowen, walewen, walwen, welwen, from Old English wealwian (“to roll”), from Proto-West Germanic *walwōn, variant of *walwijan, from Proto-Germanic *walwijaną (“to roll”), from Proto-Indo-European *welw-, from Proto-Indo-European *welH- (“to turn, wind, roll”). Cognate with Latin volvō (“roll, tumble”, verb).

verb/ˈwɒ.ləʊ/UK
  1. To fade, fade away, wither, droop; fail to flourish.

    UK · dialectal · intransitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English walwen, from Old English wealwian (“to fade, wither”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps an alteration of Old English fealwian (“to grow pale, turn yellow, ripen, wither”). Alternatively, perhaps related to Middle English welken (“to fade, droop, wither”), modern English welk.

adj/ˈwɒ.ləʊ/UK
  1. Tasteless, flat.

    dialectal · intransitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English walwe, walh, from Old English wealg, from Proto-West Germanic *walg, from Proto-Germanic *walgaz. Cognate with Dutch walg (“disgust”), dialectal Norwegian valg (“tasteless”). Doublet of waugh.

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

wallow has 6 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

wallow studiowallow workshello, wallow

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.