wankleadj.

Etymology: Cognate with Old Dutch wankil- (in wankilhēt inconstancy, Middle Dutch wankel , Dutch wankel ), Old Saxon wankul (Middle Low German wankel ; German regional (Low German) wankel ), Old High German wankal , wancal (Middle High German wankel , German wankel- in Wankelmut inconstancy) < the same Germanic base as Old English wancian (in an isolated attestation), Old Saxon wankon , Old High German wankōn (Middle High German wanken , German wanken ), all in the sense ‘to waver, to totter’, and probably also Old Icelandic vakka to stray, to hover about, apparently < the same Germanic base as (with different ablaut grade) wink v.¹ With later English regional use compare wankly adj.In β. forms showing assimilation of the consonant cluster nkl . In Old English a by-form of the adjective with i-mutation (*wencel ) was formerly assumed to be attested in the sense ‘weak’ (compare sense 2); however, this is a ghost word arising from a misinterpretation of wencelum , dative plural of wencel wenchel n. in Paris Psalter 145:8.