wean – Wiktionary

English

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English wenen, from Old English wenian (“to accustom; habituate; train; prepare; make fit”), from Proto-Germanic *wanjaną (“to make wont; accustom”), from Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- (“to strive for; wish; love”). Cognate with Dutch wennen, German gewöhnen, Danish vænne, Swedish vänja, Icelandic venja. Related via PIE to wone, wont, and wonder, and perhaps win.

Pronunciation

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• enPR:

  wēn

  , IPA(key):

  /wiːn/

• Rhymes:

  -iːn

• Audio (US)

Verb

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wean (third-person singular simple present weans, present participle weaning, simple past and past participle weaned)

Related terms

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Translations

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to cause to quit something to which one is addicted or habituated

• Bulgarian: отучвам(bg)

  (

  otučvam

  )

• Catalan: deshabituar(ca)desacostumar(ca)
• Finnish: päästä eroonpäästä irti
• French: déshabituer(fr)

• Hungarian: leszoktat(hu)
• Italian: disabituare(it)
• Spanish: deshabituar(es)desengancharse(es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Norwegian: (please verify) avvenne

• Swedish: (please verify) avvänja(sv)

Etymology 2

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Blend of wee +‎ ane (“one”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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wean (plural weans)

1. (

   Scotland

   ,

   Ulster

   )

   A small child.

   • 1856, Aurora Leigh, London:

      

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     , published 1857, OCLC 1000396166:Elizabeth Barrett Browning , “Third Book”, in, London: Chapman and Hall , published 1857,

     I, being but a yearling wean.

   • 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

     And there were darker tales in the countryside, of weans stolen, of lassies misguided, of innocent beasts cruelly tortured, and in one and all there came in the name of the wife of the Skerburnfoot.

   • 2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy‎[2], Penguin 2009, page 92:

     , Penguin 2009, page 92:

     Pigs, cows and sheep and wee ducks, that was what he bought and it was just for weans and wee lasses. I said it to my maw.
     Oh it is not weans it is children. Oh Kieron, it is children and girls, do not say weans and lasses.

Anagrams

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Old English

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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wēan m

1. wēa

   inflection of

   1. accusative

      /

      genitive

      /

      dativesingular

   2. nominative

      /

      accusativeplural

Scots

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Etymology

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wee +‎ ane

Pronunciation

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Noun

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wean (plural weans)

1. young child

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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