late 14c., past-participle adjective from wing (v.).

wē-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to blow." 

It forms all or part of: Nirvana; vent; ventilate; weather; wind (n.1) "air in motion;" window; wing.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit va-, Greek aemi-, Gothic waian, Old English wawan, Old High German wajan, German wehen, Old Church Slavonic vejati "to blow;" Sanskrit vatah, Avestan vata-, Hittite huwantis, Latin ventus, Old English wind, German Wind, Gothic winds, Old Church Slavonic vetru, Lithuanian vėjas "wind;" Lithuanian vėtra "tempest, storm;" Old Irish feth "air;" Welsh gwynt, Breton gwent "wind." 

Old English feðer "a feather; a pen," in plural, "wings," from Proto-Germanic *fethro (source also of Old Saxon fethara, Old Norse fioþr, Swedish fjäder, Middle Dutch vedere, Dutch veder, Old High German fedara, German Feder), from PIE *pet-ra-, from root *pet- "to rush, to fly."

Feather-headed "silly" is from 1640s. Feather-duster attested by 1835. Figurative use of feather in (one's) cap attested by 1734. Birds of a feather "creatures of the same kind" is from 1580s; the same image is in Greek homopteros (variant birds of a beak is from c. 1600).

also lacewing, type of insect, 1847; see lace (n.) + wing (n.). Earlier was lace-winged fly (1826), and the shorter for might be from this.

also (as an adjective) left-wing, 1871 in the political sense (1530s in a military formation sense), from left (adj.) + wing (n.). Related: Left-winger.

also (as an adjective) leftwing; 1530s of armies, 1882 in team sports, 1884 in politics; see left (adj.) + wing (n.).

1807 as the name of a brisk, fancy step in dancing, skating, etc.; see pigeon + wing (n.).

1817, from wax (n.) + wing (n.). So called for appendages at the tips of its feathers which look like red sealing-wax.

pilot of the plane beside the lead aircraft in a formation, 1943 (earlier as a football position), from wing (n.) + man (n.). With figurative extensions, including the dating-sidekick one that was in use by 2006.

"nut with flared sides for turning with the thumb and forefinger;" so called for its shape (see wing (n.) + nut (n.)). Meaning "weird person" recorded by 1989, probably not from the literal sense but from the secondary sense of nut, influenced perhaps by slang senses of wing in wing-ding "wild party," originally "fit, spasm" (1937). An earlier, British, sense of wingnut was "person with large, protruding ears" (1986).