wisht
Wish or wished, the mountain way of saying it.
Also called I wisht.
Updated September 24, 2026
wisht pronunciation
/WISHT/
Meaning
Wisht looks like past tense wished, and sometimes it is. In Southern and Appalachian talk, though, I wisht often means I wish right now. Somebody says I wisht I had a better truck, and they mean the wanting is present. Same longing as wish. Just the older rural shape of the word.
How folks use it
- “I wisht you'd come by the house this evening.”
- “She wisht she hadn't sold that old tractor.”
Origin and etymology
Excrescent t on wish, a reshape that DARE documents across the South and Appalachia from the mid-1800s on. Speakers often use wisht for present wish, not only for past wished. Mencken and dialect notes list it with other folk verb forms that never matched schoolbook conjugations.
Frequently asked questions
Does I wisht mean past tense?
Not always. In mountain talk it often means I wish, present tense. Context tells you which.