Meaning

originFrom Middle English *whid, from Old English hwiþa, hweoþu (“air, breeze”) or from Old Norse hviða (“gust of wind”), both from Proto-Germanic *hwiþō (“rush of wind”), from Proto-Germanic *hwi- (“to rush”), from Proto-Indo-European *kwei- (“to hiss, whistle, whisper”). Cognate with Scots quhid (“a squall, blast of wind”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0