- ooze (v.)
- late 14c., wosen, verbal derivative of Old English noun wos "juice, sap," from Proto-Germanic *wosan (source of Middle Low German wose "scum"), from same source as ooze (n.). Modern spelling from late 1500s. The Old English verb was wesan. Related: Oozed; oozing.
- ooze (n.)
- "soft mud," Old English wase "soft mud, mire," from Proto-Germanic *waison (source also of Old Saxon waso "wet ground, mire," Old Norse veisa "pond of stagnant water"), from PIE *wes- (2) "wet." Modern spelling is mid-1500s.
