FromMiddle Englishwenen, fromOld Englishwenian(“to accustom; habituate; train; prepare; make fit”), fromProto-West Germanic*wannjan, fromProto-Germanic*wanjaną(“to make wont; accustom”), fromProto-Indo-European*wenh₁-(“to strive for; wish; love”).
Cognate withDutchwennen,Germangewöhnen,Danishvænne,Swedishvänja,Icelandicvenja. Related via PIE towone,wont, andwonder, and perhapswin.
wean (third-person singular simple presentweans,present participleweaning,simple past and past participleweaned)
- (transitive) Tocease givingbreast milk to anoffspring; 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 hasweaned her calf.
- (intransitive) Tocease todepend on themother'smilk fornutrition.
The kittens are finallyweaning.
- (transitive, by extension, normally "wean off") To cause toquit something to which one isaddicted,dependent, orhabituated.
He managed towean himself off heroin.
2004 May 3, Tom Armstrong,Marvin (comic):With Marvin getting older ... and walking now ... I thought it was time to startweaning himoff of his bottle.
1727, Jonathan Swift,(Please provide the book title or journal name)[1]:The troubles of age were intended[…] towean us gradually from our fondness of life.
March 6, 2017,John Oliver, “Interview with theDalai Lama”, inLast 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 towean them off vodka by giving them horse milk?"
Dalai Lama: "Oh yes, and they follow."
- (intransitive, by extension) Tocease todepend.
She isweaning from her addiction to tobacco.
- (transitive, by extension, obsolete) Toraise, tohelpgrow towardmaturity
c.1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe],Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published1592,→OCLC; reprinted asTamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press,1973,→ISBN,Act I, scene ii:For they are friends that help toweane my ſtate,
Till men and kingdomes help to ſtrengthen it:[…]
to cease giving milk
- Arabic:فَطَمَ(faṭama)
- Armenian:please add this translation if you can
- Belarusian:адняць ад грудзей pf(adnjacʹ ad hrudzjej),аднімаць ад грудзей impf(adnimacʹ ad hrudzjej),адлучыць ад грудзей pf(adlučycʹ ad hrudzjej),адлучаць ад грудзей impf(adlučacʹ ad hrudzjej)
- Bulgarian:отбивам (bg)(otbivam)
- Catalan:deslletar (ca),desmamar (ca)
- Czech:odstavit,přestat kojit pf
- Dutch:afnemen (nl)
- Finnish:vieroittaa
- French:sevrer (fr)
- German:abstillen (de),entwöhnen (de)
- Greek:απογαλακτίζω (el)(apogalaktízo)
- Hungarian:elválaszt (hu)
- Ido:ablaktar (io)
- Irish:scoith
- Italian:svezzare (it)
- Ladino:destetar
- Maori:whakamutu i te kai waiū,whakamakere ū
- Polish:odstawiaćodpiersi impf,odstawićodpiersi pf
- Portuguese:desmamar (pt)
- Quechua:hanuk'ay
- Romanian:înțărca (ro)
- Russian:отнима́ть от груди́ impf(otnimátʹ ot grudí),отня́ть от груди́ pf(otnjátʹ ot grudí),отлуча́ть (ru) impf(otlučátʹ),отлучи́ть (ru) pf(otlučítʹ)
- Spanish:destetar (es),desmamar (es)
- Swedish:avvänja (sv)
- Thai:please add this translation if you can
- Turkish:sütten kesmek (tr)
- Ukrainian:відлучати від грудей impf(vidlučaty vid hrudej),відлучити від грудей pf(vidlučyty vid hrudej)
- Vietnamese:dứt sữa,cai sữa
- Welsh:diddyfnu (cy)
- Yiddish:אַנטװײנען(antveynen)
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to cease to depend on the mother for nourishment
to cause to quit something to which one is addicted or habituated
Translations to be checked
Borrowed fromScotswean(literally“wee one”).
- IPA(key): /ˈwiː(ə)n/,/ˈweɪ(ə)n/,[weːn]
wean (pluralweans)
- (Scotland, Mid-Ulster, others) A youngchild or animal.
1902, John Buchan,The Outgoing of the Tide:And there were darker tales in the countryside, ofweans 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, page92:Pigs, cows and sheep and wee ducks, that was what he bought and it was just forweans and wee lasses. I said it to my maw.
Oh it is notweans it is children. Oh Kieron, it is children and girls, do not sayweans and lasses.
FromMiddle High Germanwërden, fromOld High Germanwerdan, fromProto-West Germanic*werþan, fromProto-Germanic*werþaną. Cognates includeGermanwerden,Dutchworden, obsoleteEnglishworth,Swedishvarda,Norwegian Nynorskverta, and alsoLatinvertere(“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 ininchoative 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 auxiliarieswullīn(“will”) (Bavarianwoin,wolln,wuin) andschole,schulen,sollen(“shall”) (Bavariansoin,solln).
wean (past participlewuan)
- (auxiliary, with an infinitive)will; to be going (to do something);forms the future tense
- Iwea da jetz wås sågn: ... ―I'll tell you something now: ...
- Miawean kan Richter brauchn. ―Wewon't need a judge.
- (auxiliary, with the past participle) to be done;forms the passive voice
- Des Buachwead gråd glesn.(present tense) ―The bookis being read.
- Des Buach is glesnwuan.(perfect tense) ―The bookhas been read.
- (copulative) tobecome; toget; togrow; toturn
- Iatzwead's hoaßer. ―It'sgetting hotter.
- Sie is a Polizistinwuan. ―Shebecame a police officer.
- Iwia deppert! ―I'm going mad! (literally, “I'mbecoming mad.”)
- (with a dative object and certain adjectives) to begin or come tofeel orexperience (a condition)
- Usage: In this sensewean is conjugated in the third person singular and takes a dative noun. The impersonal subjectes may be present, but is often taken as implied.
- Miawead schlecht vo der Sauce tartare. ―Tartare saucemakes me sick. (literally, “I become sick from tartare sauce.”)
- Eswiad eam scho speibert. ―He'sbeginning to feel nauseated.
- (copulative) to be going to work
- Sowird desnix. ―Itwill not work like that.
- In some regions of East Central Bavaria, including Vienna, the subjunctivewiad is rather uncommon and suppleted withdadad, the subjunctive oftuan/doan.
Conjugation ofwean| infinitive | wean |
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| past participle | wuan |
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| present | past | subjunctive |
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| 1st person singular | wea, wia | — | wiad |
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| 2nd person singular | weast, wiast | — | wiadst |
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| 3rd person singular | wead, wiad | — | wiad |
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| 1st person plural | wean | — | wiadn |
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| 2nd person plural | weats | — | wiadts |
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| 3rd person plural | wean | — | wiadn |
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| |
| imperative |
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| singular | wea |
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| plural | weats |
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wēan m
- inflection ofwēa:
- accusative/genitive/dativesingular
- nominative/accusativeplural
wee +ane
wean (pluralweans)
- (West Central Scots, Ulster)child
- “wean,n.”, inThe Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh:Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present,→OCLC, retrieved24 May 2024, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors,The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh:Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976,→OCLC.
