From PIE *wed- (water) — same root as 'water,' 'vodka,' and Greek 'hydor,' making wetness and water siblings.
Covered or saturated with water or another liquid; (of weather) rainy; (of paint, ink, or a similar substance) not yet dried or set.
From Old English 'wǣt' (moist, rainy, liquid, wet), from Proto-Germanic *wētaz, from PIE root *wed- (water, wet, to flow). The same root produced the English noun 'water' — making 'wet' and 'water' etymological siblings descending from the same PIE ancestor. The root *wed- is visible in Latin 'unda' (wave, whence 'undulate,' 'inundate,' 'redundant'), Greek 'hýdōr' (water, giving
'Wet,' 'water,' 'vodka,' and 'hydro-' all descend from the same PIE root *wed- (water). 'Vodka' entered English from Russian, where it is a diminutive of 'voda' (water) — literally 'little water.' Greek 'hýdōr' (water), which gives English 'hydrogen,' 'hydrant,' and 'dehydrate,' is the same root with a different ablaut grade. During American Prohibition, 'wet' meant someone who opposed the alcohol ban, while 'dry' meant a supporter — the metaphor of liquid versus its absence mapped directly