The term onwent is unrecorded in works on agricultural history and field-name terminology, yet occurs several times in East Anglia. An examination of this term reveals that even the more common base term went is poorly understood. This article suggests that the word went at first denoted a contiguous group of strips with a shared headland in an open field, and that an onwent was the shared headland brought into cultivation. Intriguing parallels with similar and much more widespread Dutch and German words are explored.