wean

/wiːn/

//wiːn// verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"wean" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“wean” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #40,968) as a verb. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#40,968
frequency rank, English
1,759
“W” headwords
3
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - 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.

Corpus desk

Index EN-wean · wean · English

wean · rank #40,968 · 3 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #40,968
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 3 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,759
  • PHOTO-FINISH WAV

Nearest frequency peer: WAV (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbours of confusable “wean”

Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “wean” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

wean vs win
50% similar
wean vs won
50% similar
wean vs web
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for wean
PropertyValue
Headwordwean
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/wiːn/
Letters4
Frequency rank#40,968
Misspellings tracked3
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “wean”

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).weanlands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “WAV” (#40,967), “Weezer” (#40,969), “welling” (#40,970). Among 1,759 “W” headwords, “wean” is #40,968. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for wean is neighbouring look-alikes ("win", "won", …), not just typos; it is averb pronounced /wiːn/. Frequency #40,968 among 1,759 “W” headwords. 6 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our generated misspelling index lists 3 likely wrong-spelling variants for wean, with forms such as "weann", "wena", and "wwean". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "win", "won", "web", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: 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… The correct English form is wean, spelled W-E-A-N.

Definition

  1. 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.
  2. 2
    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.
  3. 3
    To cease to depend on the mother's milk for nutrition.
  4. 4
    To cause to quit something to which one is addicted, dependent, or habituated.
  5. 5
    To cease to depend.
  6. 6
    To raise, to help grow toward maturity

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how wean appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The cow has weaned her calf.
  2. Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.

Etymology

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”). Cognate with Dutch wennen, German gewöhnen, Danish vænne, Swedish vänja, Icelandic venja. Related via PIE to wone, wont, and wonder, and perhaps win.

This word in other languages

destetar(Español)sevrer(Français)abstillen(Deutsch)desmamar(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • weann
  • wena
  • wwean

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of wean - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

weann1wena2wwean1
Edit distance from "wean"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "wean"?
"wean" is spelled W-E-A-N. The IPA pronunciation is /wiːn/.
What does "wean" mean?
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 from the breast or udder.
What words are commonly confused with "wean"?
"wean" is commonly confused with "win", "won", "web". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "wean"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "wean" is /wiːn/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "wean"?
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; ... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "wean", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

WaPo#40,965wimp#40,974vila#40,956tink#40,928

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list