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.

---

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

---

wean ² British  

/ weɪn, wiːn /

noun

1. dialect a child; infant

---

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”

Explanation

To wean yourself from something is to gradually eliminate that thing from your life. You may want to wean yourself from watching too much TV, drinking two pots of coffee every morning, or obsessively reading the celebrity columns. To wean an infant — human or animal — you gradually reduce consumption of mother’s milk or bottled milk until the little one is no longer nursing or bottle-feeding. If you want to wean yourself from eating chocolate chip cookies, go from eating eight a day to only seven for the next few days, then to six for a few days and so on until you're no longer eating any chocolate chip cookies.

Example Sentences

It will take time for middle-sized democracies in Europe and Asia to wean themselves from dependencies on America and to intensify cooperation among themselves.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 7, 2026

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 • Feb. 21, 2026

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 • Feb. 19, 2026

Between 2018 and mid-2019, the Queensland psychiatrist had worked closely with Cauchi to wean him off the medications he had been taking to treat his condition, a move that was not criticised by the coroner.

From BBC • Feb. 4, 2026

But when Zuraiq could finally eat grass and grains, Father covered the mother goat’s udders in order to wean Zuraiq.

From "Tasting the Sky" by Ibtisam Barakat

Related Words

• discourage