Other forms: disowned, disowns, disowning
To disown is to refuse any longer to acknowledge a relative. Disown his son, disowned by the family, threaten to disown.
It is a declaration rather than a drift, which is what separates it from becoming estranged — disowning is announced. It has no legal effect in most countries, since parentage cannot be undone, though a will can. Note own, in the sense of acknowledging as yours.
1verbdisownTo refuse any longer to acknowledge a relative.
“His father disowned him after he married against the family's wishes.”
disown is a repudiating.
Proto-Indo-European
*h₂eyḱ- — to have, possess
Proto-Germanic
*aiganaz — own
Proto-West Germanic
*aigan — own
Old English
āgen — own, proper, peculiar
Middle English
oun
English
own
English, today
disown
From dis- + own. own comes from Middle English oun, owen, from Old English āgen (“own, proper, peculiar”), originally the past participle of āgan; from Proto-West Germanic aigan (“own”), from Proto-Germanic aiganaz (“own”), from Proto-Indo-European h₂eyḱ- (“to have, possess”). a doublet of eigen-. 2 Cognate with Scots ain, awin, awn, ayn (“own”), stq oain (“own”), West Frisian, Dutch and German eigen (“own”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål and Swedish egen (“own”), Faroese egin (“own”), Icelandic eigin, eiginn (“own”), Norwegian Nynorsk eigen (“own”); also os исын (“to take”), xto and txb aik- (“to know, recognize”), Sanskrit ईश (“owning, possessing”). Originally past participle of the verb at hand in owe.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA