welkin

[ wel-kin ]

noun

, Chiefly Literary.

1. the sky; the vault of heaven.

welkin

/ ˈwɛlkɪn /

noun

1. archaic.
   the sky, heavens, or upper air

Word History and Origins

Origin of welkin¹

before 900; Middle English welken ( e ), Old English welcn, variant of wolcen cloud, sky; cognate with German Wolke cloud

Word History and Origins

Origin of welkin¹

Old English wolcen, welcen; related to Old Frisian wolken, Old Saxon, Old High German wolcan

Example Sentences

And anywhere would be a welkin, let Brittany Griner tell it.

From Los Angeles Times

“You could argue that without retroviruses you wouldn’t have mammals,” says Welkin Johnson, a virologist at Boston College.

From Science Magazine

I like Thornfield, its antiquity, its retirement, its old crow-trees and thorn-trees, its grey façade, and lines of dark windows reflecting that metal welkin: and yet how long have I abhorred the very thought of it, shunned it like a great plague-house?

From Literature

It may be on stage rather than screen, but Lucy Kirkwood’s The Welkin, currently running at the National Theatre, also applies mordant humour to the anguishes and indignities of reproductive life.

From The Guardian

He did well enough to win a spot in the graduate virology program at Harvard Medical School in Boston, where he worked under Welkin Johnson.

From Science Magazine