From Hopes to Worry
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Tap any rung for its meaning.
Three stepping stones: the L (rung 1, for holes), the D (rung 2, for holds) and the O (rung 3, for hoods) — each borrowed to keep a rung a real word, then given back before the end. There may be several par routes — the census above shows which ones climbers actually took.
Third person singular of hope: to wish for something to happen.
From Old English 'hopian', meaning to wish or expect. It is a common Germanic word found in Dutch 'hopen' and German 'hoffen'. The origin before Old English is uncertain, but the word has always carried a sense of positive expectation.
Full entry on Wiktionary ↗To feel anxious or troubled about something.
From Old English 'wyrgan', meaning to strangle or choke. It later came to mean harassing or troubling someone, and eventually settled into its modern sense of mental anxiety. The shift from physical choking to mental distress happened gradually over many centuries.
Full entry on Wiktionary ↗Definitions give each word’s most common meaning — the full entries live at Wiktionary.