ween

[ween]

verb (used with or without object) Archaic.

to think; suppose.
to expect, hope, or intend.

Origin of ween

before 900; Middle English wenen, Old English wēnan to expect; cognate with German wähnen to imagine, Old Norse væna, Gothic wēnjan to hope, expect

Related formsun·weened, adjective

Can be confusedwean ween

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for weened

Contemporary Examples of weened

It satisfied the part of me that grew up and was weened on SNL.
Michaela Watkins: Fired From ‘SNL’ To Hollywood’s Funniest Scene-Stealer
Kevin Fallon
March 4, 2014

Historical Examples of weened

You would have weened that day that there were none but rich folk in Nuremberg.
Margery [Gred], Complete
Georg Ebers
Who would have weened that, thou that hast been to me so dear?
Britain in the Middle Ages
Florence L. Bowman
He weened that Ruediger knowing / had warned what lay for them in store.
The Nibelungenlied
Unknown
They weened that he had conquered / in trial by his proper might.
The Nibelungenlied
Unknown
She weened to save the hero, / yet wrought she nothing save his bane.
The Nibelungenlied
Unknown

British Dictionary definitions for weened

ween

verb

archaic to think or imagine (something)

Word Origin for ween

Old English wēnan; related to Old Saxon wānian, Gothic wēnjan, German wähnen to assume wrongly

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for weened

ween

Old English wenan "to think," from Proto-Germanic *woenijanan (cf. Old Saxon wanian, Old Norse væna, Old Frisian wena, Old High German wanen, German wähnen, Gothic wenjan "to expect, suppose, think"), from *woeniz "expectation," from PIE root *wen- "to wish, desire, strive for" (see Venus). Archaic since 17c.