to accustom (a child or young animal) to food other than its mother's milk; cause to lose the need to suckle or turn to the mother for food.
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.
Verb Phrases
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.
Origin of wean
before 1000;Middle Englishwenen,Old Englishwenian; cognate with Dutchwennen,Germangewöhnen,Old Norsevenja to accustom
Related formswean·ed·ness[wee-nid-nis, weend-]/ˈwi nɪd nɪs, ˈwind-/, nounpost·wean·ing, adjectivepre·wean·ing, adjectiveun·weaned, adjectiveCan be confusedweanween
Old English wenian "to accustom," from Proto-Germanic *wanjanan (cf. Old Norse venja, Dutch wennen, Old High German giwennan, German gewöhnen "to accustom"), from *wanaz "accustomed" (related to wont). The sense of weaning a child from the breast in Old English was generally expressed by gewenian or awenian, which has a sense of "unaccustom" (cf. German abgewöhnen, entwöhnen "to wean," literally "to unaccustom"). The prefix subsequently wore off. Figurative extension to any pursuit or habit is from 1520s.
