Wast

Wast is the archaic second-person singular past tense form of the English verb to be, used with the pronoun thou. In modern English, the equivalent expression is you were. Wast appears most often in historical texts, poetry, and literature from the Early Modern English period and earlier, when thou was still commonly used as the familiar second-person pronoun.

Linguistically, wast reflects the older conjugation system of English, where the verb to be possessed distinct forms for different grammatical persons. The second-person singular past tense with thou commonly appears as wast, e.g., Thou wast merry. Over time, thou fell out of everyday use in most dialects, and you were replaced by you were. The form wast is now largely confined to religious, literary, or stylistic contexts that aim to evoke an archaic tone.

In contemporary writing, wast is rarely used outside of deliberate archaizing or quotations from older sources. It may be encountered in translations aiming for historical flavor, in fantasy or period works, or in discussions of English grammar and history. When used today, it is typically presented to signal a setting or voice that imitates or references Shakespearean or King James Bible-era language.

See also: to be, was, were, thou, archaic English, Early Modern English.