wanted
Meaning
desired or wished for; sought after
(of a person) being sought by the police in connection with a crime
Usage
the company posted a notice for a wanted software engineer.
a poster in the post office displayed pictures of the most wanted criminals.
her unique skills made her a wanted consultant for many top firms.
Etymology
The verb 'want' originates from the Old Norse 'vanta', meaning 'to be lacking', which itself is related to the Old English 'wanian', meaning 'to lessen or diminish'. This sense of deficiency evolved through Middle English to encompass the idea of desire for something that is lacking. The participial adjective 'wanted' thus carries the dual modern connotations of something that is desired (to fill an absence) and, in a legal context, a person who is lacking or absent from custody and is therefore sought. The journey from a term denoting absence to one signifying active pursuit illustrates a classic semantic shift from a state of being to an associated action.
Analysis
The word is a past participle and adjective formed from the verb 'want'. It is not productively segmented into smaller meaningful morphemes in Modern English.