wisht
In Appalachian and Southern speech, "wisht" is the dialect form of "wished," the past tense of "wish." It’s a natural, long-standing feature of the region’s everyday talk.
Hillbilly Dude Says...
"I wisht I’d stayed home instead of goin’ to that meetin’." Pronunciation
[WISHT] (rhymes with "fished")
Meaning & Usage
- Past tense of "wish" - to regret or desire something differently (dialect verb)
Mae:
How’d it go?
How’d it go?
Earl:
I wisht I’d stayed home.
I wisht I’d stayed home.other spellings: wished
★ "Wisht" is a hallmark of Southern/Appalachian speech. It’s not a mistake - it’s an older English form that survived in rural dialects, showing Scots-Irish influence. ★
Origin
Documented in the Dictionary of American Regional English and Appalachian dialect studies. "Wisht" appears in 19th-century American literature as a common vernacular spelling of "wished," showing its long history in rural Southern speech.
Notes
Still used in rural Southern/Appalachian communities. Outside the region it’s rare and may be recognized mainly from dialect writing or literature.
Say It Like a Southerner
Said plain: "wisht." Often in sentences like "I wisht I never"" or "He wisht he hadn’t""