wean

English

Etymology 1

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

• enPR: wēn, IPA^(key): /wiːn/
• Rhymes: -iːn

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To cease giving breast milk to an offspring; to accustom and reconcile (a child or young animal) to a want or deprivation of mother's milk; to take from the breast or udder.

   The cow has weaned her calf.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Genesis 21:8:

     Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.

2. (intransitive) To cease to depend on the mother's milk for nutrition.

   The kittens are finally weaning.

3. (transitive, by extension, normally "wean off") To cause to quit something to which one is addicted, dependent, or habituated.

   He managed to wean himself off heroin.

   • 2004 May 3, Tom Armstrong, Marvin (comic):

     With Marvin getting older ... and walking now ... I thought it was time to start weaning him off of his bottle.

   • 1727, Jonathan Swift, (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎:

     The troubles of age were intended […] to wean us gradually from our fondness of life.

   • March 6, 2017, John Oliver, “Interview with the Dalai Lama”, in Last Week Tonight:

     Dalai Lama: "Then, I suggested, “Drink much less vodka.” Instead of that, they traditionally also drink horse milk—"
     Oliver: "Wait, hold on, you tried to wean them off vodka by giving them horse milk?"
     Dalai Lama: "Oh yes, and they follow."

4. (intransitive, by extension) To cease to depend.

   She is weaning from her addiction to tobacco.

5. (transitive, by extension, obsolete) To raise, to help grow toward maturity
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. The First Part , 2nd edition, part 1, London: Richard Iones, , published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:

     For they are friends that help to weane my ſtate,
     Till men and kingdomes help to ſtrengthen it: […]

Related terms

Translations

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Scots wean (literally “wee one”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwiː(ə)n/, /ˈweɪ(ə)n/,

Noun

wean (plural weans)

1. (Scotland, Mid-Ulster, others) A young child or animal.
   • 1856, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “Third Book”, in Aurora Leigh, London: Chapman and Hall, , published 1857, →OCLC:

     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, 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

• Ewan, Newa, anew, wane

Bavarian

Alternative forms

• wearn, wern (spelling variants)

Etymology

From Middle High German wërden, from Old High German werdan, from Proto-West Germanic *werþan, from Proto-Germanic *werþaną. Cognates include German werden, Dutch worden, obsolete English worth, Swedish varda, Norwegian Nynorsk verta, and also Latin vertere (“to turn”).

The use as a passive auxiliary is old and found throughout West Germanic, whereas the use as a future auxiliary is a Middle High German innovation. It originated in inchoative constructions with the present participle: er wirt lachende (“he starts laughing, is about to laugh, will laugh”). Since the 14th century, the participle was increasingly replaced with the infinitive, probably by analogy with the older Middle High German future auxiliaries wullīn (“will”) (Bavarian woin, wolln, wuin) and schole, schulen, sollen (“shall”) (Bavarian soin, solln).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈve̞ɐ̯n/

Verb

wean (past participle wuan)

1. (auxiliary, with an infinitive) will; to be going (to do something); forms the future tense

   I wea da jetz wås sågn: ... ― I'll tell you something now: ...

   Mia wean kan Richter brauchn. ― We won't need a judge.

2. (auxiliary, with the past participle) to be done; forms the passive voice

   Des Buach wead gråd glesn. (present tense) ― The book is being read.

   Des Buach is glesn wuan. (perfect tense) ― The book has been read.

3. (copulative) to become; to get; to grow; to turn

   Iatz wead's hoaßer. ― It's getting hotter.

   Sie is a Polizistin wuan. ― She became a police officer.

   I wia deppert! ― I'm going mad! (literally, “I'm becoming mad.”)

4. (with a dative object and certain adjectives) to begin or come to feel or experience (a condition)

   Usage: In this sense wean is conjugated in the third person singular and takes a dative noun. The impersonal subject es may be present, but is often taken as implied.

   Mia wead schlecht vo der Sauce tartare. ― Tartare sauce makes me sick. (literally, “I become sick from tartare sauce.”)

   Es wiad eam scho speibert. ― He's beginning to feel nauseated.

5. (copulative) to be going to work

   So wird des nix. ― It will not work like that.

Usage notes

• In some regions of East Central Bavaria, including Vienna, the subjunctive wiad is rather uncommon and suppleted with dadad, the subjunctive of tuan/doan.

Conjugation

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wæ͜ɑːn/

Noun

wēan m

1. inflection of wēa:
   1. accusative/genitive/dative singular
   2. nominative/accusative plural

Scots

Etymology

wee +‎ ane

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): ,

Noun

wean (plural weans)

1. young child or animal

Synonyms

• bairnie

Derived terms

• weanish

References

• “wean” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.