wean
/ˈwiːn/verb, noun
wean is spelled W-E-A-N: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 40,703rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “wean vs ween” about 90 times a month (Google, United States). As a verb, wean means “To cease giving breast milk to an offspring; to accustom and reconcile (a child or young animal) to a want or deprivation of mother's milk; to take…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in wean?
| Letters | 4: W-E-A-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 40,703rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is wean?
Wean appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 40,703rd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce wean?
- /ˈwiːn/
- [ˈwɪi̯n]
As a noun (“A young child”): /ˈwiː(ə)n/, /ˈweɪ(ə)n/, [weːn].
Wean has one syllable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-ween.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with wean
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: ween (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with wean?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as wean.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: anew, wane.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of wean
- weans present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- weaning participle, present
- weaned participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does wean mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To cease giving breast milk to an offspring; to accustom and reconcile (a child or young animal) to a want or deprivation of mother's milk; to take from the breast or udder.
The cow has weaned her calf.
- 2
To habituate (someone) to something, especially since childhood.
His generation was weaned on 1980's music.
- 3
To cease to depend on the mother's milk for nutrition.
The kittens are finally weaning.
- 4
To cause to quit something to which one is addicted, dependent, or habituated.
He managed to wean himself off heroin.
- 5
To cease to depend.
She is weaning from her addiction to tobacco.
- 6
obsoleteTo raise, to help grow toward maturity
noun
- 1
ScotlandA young child.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Wean in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | sevrer , déshabituer |
| German | abstillen, entwöhnen |
| Portuguese | desmamar |
| Spanish | destetar, desmamar , deshabituar, desengancharse , destetarse, desmamarse |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does wean come from?
From Middle English wenen, from Old English wenian (“to accustom; habituate; train; prepare; make fit”), from Proto-West Germanic *wannjan, from Proto-Germanic *wanjaną (“to make wont; accustom”), from Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- (“to strive for; wish; love”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).