Where does “wean” come from?
Wean comes from Middle English wenen, from Old English wēnan, from Proto-Germanic wēnijaną, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European wenh₁-.
wean (English): To cease giving milk to an offspring; to accustom...
Definitions
- To cease giving milk to an offspring; to accustom...
Ancestry of “wean”, step by step
wean traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Middle English wenen
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | wenen | — |
| 2 | Old English | wēnan | to think (be of a certain opinion) |
| 3 | Proto-Germanic | wēnijaną | to hope, to expect; to believe, to imagine |
| 4 | Proto-Germanic | -janą | Derives denominatives from nouns and factitives... |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | -yéti | Creates intransitive, often deponent,... |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | yé- | — |
| 7 | Chichewa | iye | he, she |