To want something is to wish to have it or to feel that you need it.
“Want” came into English from Old Norse “vanta,” meaning “to lack, be missing.” It first meant “to be without” before shifting to mean “to desire to have.”
Originally, to “be in want” meant you were missing something important, not that you just liked it. This older meaning still hides in phrases like “in want of food” or “in want of a better word.”
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