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wean

UK/ˈwiːn/US/ˈwiːn/
verbB2+Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #12,419 of 15,258leans spoken

Other forms: weaned, weaning, weans

To wean is to move a baby from milk onto other food. Wean the baby, weaned at six months, wean him off it.

The advice is to start at around six months, and weaning is a gradual replacing rather than a single day. To wean somebody off something is the figurative use, meaning to reduce a dependence step by step rather than stopping all at once.

Ravedave · CC BY-SA 3.0

Definitions of wean

  1. 1verbweanTo move a baby from milk onto other food.B2+

    “She weaned the baby onto mashed vegetables at six months.”

wean is a changing.

Where it comes from

Old English wenian meant to accustom or train. The sense narrowed to accustoming a child to other food.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *wenh₁- — to strive for; wish; love

  2. Proto-Germanic

    *wanjaną — to make wont; accustom

  3. Proto-West Germanic

    *wannjan

  4. Old English

    wenian — to accustom; habituate; train; prepare; make fit

  5. Middle English

    wenen

  6. English, today

    wean

From Middle English wenen, from Old English wenian (“to accustom; habituate; train; prepare; make fit”), from Proto-West Germanic wannjan, 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 a doublet of wone and wont and wonder, and perhaps a doublet of win.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Babies & Growing Up

Practise this word

wean in the wild

  • In the UK, weaning primarily refers to the introduction of solid foods at 6 months; in the US, it primarily refers to stopping breastfeeding.

    Weaning

  • The infant is considered to be fully weaned once it is no longer fed by any breast milk (or bottled substitute).

    Weaning

  • Traditionally, the Karat banana was used in Micronesia to wean infants onto solid food.

    Karat banana

  • Nose rings are used to control bulls and occasionally cows, and to help wean young cattle by preventing suckling.

    Nose ring (animal)

  • Jimmy and Jackie were then determined to wean him off his addiction.

    Little Jimmy Corkhill

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.