wean

American  

[ween] / win /

verb (used with object)

1. to accustom (a child or young animal) to food other than mother's milk; cause to lose the need to suckle or turn to the mother for food.

2. to withdraw (a person, the affections, one's dependency, etc.) from some object, habit, form of enjoyment, or the like.

   The need to reduce had weaned us from rich desserts.

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verb phrase

1. wean on to accustom to; to familiarize with from, or as if from, childhood.

   a brilliant student weaned on the classics;

   suburban kids weaned on rock music.

wean ¹ British  

/ wiːn /

verb

1. to cause (a child or young mammal) to replace mother's milk by other nourishment

2. (usually foll by from) to cause to desert former habits, pursuits, etc

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wean ² British  

/ weɪn, wiːn /

noun

1. dialect a child; infant

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Other Word Forms

• postweaning adjective
• preweaning adjective
• unweaned adjective
• weanedness noun
• weaning noun

Etymology

Origin of wean

First recorded before 1000; Middle English wenen, Old English wenian; cognate with Dutch wennen, German gewöhnen, Old Norse venja “to accustom”

Example Sentences

It is designed to wean companies off using fossil fuels in the long-term.

From BBC

And he said the percentage of animals that have died in the Año Nuevo rookery is relatively small: Only about 5% of weaned pups and 6% of adult males have died.

From Los Angeles Times

After years of priming us to expect speedy deliveries, the ever-growing e-commerce economy is weaning us off them—and no one seems to mind.

From The Wall Street Journal

The goal of the “analog lifestyle” trend is to wean people off constant digital connectivity by doing tangible activities that help a person reclaim their time.

From Los Angeles Times

That began to change more than a decade ago as China started to wean itself off the dollar, diversifying reserves into gold while pushing for wider use of its own currency.

From Barron's

Related Words

• discourage