Dictionary

winsome en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈwɪn.səm/
• (Australia) audio

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English wynsom, winsom, winsome, winsum, wunsum (“beautiful; agreeable, gracious, pleasant; generous; of situations: favourable, propitious”), from Old English wynsum (“joyful, merry, pleasant; winsome”), from Proto-West Germanic *wunnjusam (“joyful”). By surface analysis, winne (“delight, joy, pleasure”) + -some.

Meanings

1. Charming, engaging, winning; inspiring approval and trust, especially if in an innocent manner.
   • Will ye keep your troth to me, / Winsome Annie Ramsay? / Will ye keep your troth to me, / Winsome Annie Ramsay? / Will ye keep your troth to me? / My ain true luve will ye be? / Then meet me at the trysting tree, / Winsome Annie Ramsay. 1851 October, Jonathan Freke Slingsby [pseudonym; John Francis Waller], “Slingsby in Scotland. Part II.—Conclusion.”, in The Dublin University Magazine, a Literary and Political Journal, volume XXXVIII, number CCXXVI, Dublin: James McGlashan, 50 Upper Sackville-St.; London: W[illia]m S[omerville] Orr, →OCLC, stanza I, page 494:
   • […] lifting her winsome eyes to my face with that sort of look which turns off bad temper, even when one has all the right in the world to indulge it. 1847, Emily Brontë, chapter IX, in Wuthering Heights:
   • The pink wallpaper of the nursery was decorated with a Noah's Ark of friendly lions and comical giraffes and winsome elephants. 1961, David Alexander, “When the Rain Stops”, in Hangman’s Dozen, New York, N.Y.: Roy Publishers, →OCLC, page 216:
   • Gerty MacDowell who was seated near her companions, lost in thought, gazing far away into the distance was in very truth as fair a specimen of winsome Irish girlhood as one could wish to see. 1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 13, Nausicaa]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 333:
   • He [Ching Keng Lee] is a man of fine physique and above the height of the average Straits-born, with a shrewd business head, and affable and winsome manners, and continues to take a keen interest in public affairs. 1923, Song Ong Siang, “The Ninth Decade (1899–1909): Second Part”, in One Hundred Years’ History of the Chinese in Singapore: […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 377:
   • “We have to begin to step up and communicate this message in ways that are winsome and compelling,” he added. 2025 April 24, Elizabeth Dias, Ruth Graham, quoting Sean W. Rowe, “After Pope Francis, Progressive Christians Feel Vulnerable”, in The New York Times, New York City, retrieved 24 Apr 2025:

Forms

Deriveds

unwinsome

Relateds

winsomely · winne · winsomeness · winly

Translations (24)

es encantador (charming, engaging, winning) · bg очарователен (charming, engaging, winning) · bg привлекателен (charming, engaging, winning) · cs půvabný (charming, engaging, winning) · cs okouzlující (charming, engaging, winning) · ru обая́тельный (charming, engaging, winning) · hu elbűvölő (charming, engaging, winning) · de gewinnend (charming, engaging, winning) · ka მომხიბლავი (charming, engaging, winning) · enm winsom (charming, engaging, winning) · hu bájos (charming, engaging, winning) · hu megejtő (charming, engaging, winning) · hu megnyerő (charming, engaging, winning) · pt encantador (charming, engaging, winning) · el ελκυστικός (charming, engaging, winning) · gl encantador (charming, engaging, winning) · enm winsing (charming, engaging, winning) · ca encantador (charming, engaging, winning) · cs podmanivý (charming, engaging, winning) · ka მიმზიდველი (charming, engaging, winning) · pl ujmujący (charming, engaging, winning) · fi valloittava (charming, engaging, winning) · pt atraente (charming, engaging, winning) · nl innemend (charming, engaging, winning)