welcome

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
welcome/ˈwelkəm/

▶noun an instance or manner of greeting someone.

■ a pleased or approving reaction.

▶exclamation used to greet someone in a glad or friendly way. ▶verb

• 1 greet (someone arriving) in a glad, polite, or friendly way.

• 2 be glad to receive or hear of: the decision was widely welcomed.

▶adjective

• 1 (of a guest or new arrival) gladly received.

• 2 very pleasing because much needed or desired.

• 3 allowed or invited to do a specified thing: you are welcome to join in.

  ■ (welcome to) used to indicate relief at relinquishing something to another: you're welcome to it!

– derivatives
welcomely adverb,
welcomeness noun,
welcomer noun,
welcoming noun & adjective,
welcomingly adverb.

– origin OE wilcuma ‘a person whose coming is pleasing’, wilcumian (v.), from wil- ‘desire, pleasure’ + cuman ‘come’; change to wel- influenced by OFr. bien venu or ON velkominn.