wean

wean  (wn)

tr.v. weaned, wean·ing, weans

1. To accustom (the young of a mammal) to take nourishment other than by suckling.

2. To detach from that to which one is strongly habituated or devoted: She weaned herself from cigarettes.

3. To accustom to something from an early age. Often used with on: "The northerners among the refugees ... were weaned on harsh weather and infertile soils and are known for their rigorous work ethic" (Lowell Weiss).

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[Middle English wenen, from Old English wenian; see wen-¹ in Indo-European roots.]

Usage Note: In recent years weaned on has come to be widely used in the sense "raised on," as in Moviegoers weaned on the Star Trek TV series will doubtless find the film to their liking. A few critics have objected to this usage on the grounds that wean refers literally to a detachment from a source of nourishment. But the process of weaning involves a substitution of some other form of nourishment for mother's milk; thus it is sometimes said that a child is weaned onto or on sugar water. Hence a sentence like Paul was weaned on folk music may suggest metaphorically that Paul's exposure to folk music began from the time he stopped nursing, that is, from a very early age.

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wean¹

vb (tr)

1. (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Physiology) (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Zoology) 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.

[Old English wenian to accustom; related to German gewöhnen to get used to]

weaning  n

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wean²

n

Scot and northern English dialect a child; infant

[a contraction of wee ane or perhaps a shortened form of weanling]

Thesaurus

Verb	1.	wean - gradually deprive (infants and young mammals) of mother's milk; "she weaned her baby when he was 3 months old and started him on powdered milk"; "The kitten was weaned and fed by its owner with a bottle" ablactate deprive - keep from having, keeping, or obtaining
	2.	wean - detach the affections of alienate, disaffect, estrange, alien - arouse hostility or indifference in where there had formerly been love, affection, or friendliness; "She alienated her friends when she became fanatically religious"

Translations

wean [wiːn] VT [+ child] → destetar
to wean sb (away) from sth (fig) → alejar a algn de algo

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wean [ˈwiːn] vt

[+ baby, young] → sevrer

to wean sb off sth → se sevrer de qch

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wean

vt baby → entwöhnen; to wean somebody from or off somebody/something → jdn jdm/einer Sache entwöhnen (geh)

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wean [wiːn] vt (baby) → svezzare
to wean sb (away) from alcohol → far perdere a qn il vizio del bere

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wean

v wean [wiːn]

to cause (a child or young animal) to become used to food other than the mother's milk The baby has been weaned (on to solid foods). speen يَفْطُم отбивам кърмаче odstavit vænne fra entwöhnen αποκόβω από το θηλασμό destetar (emapiimast) võõrutama از شير گرفتن vieroittaa sevrer לִגמוֹל दूध छुड़ाना odbiti od sise elválaszt berhenti menyusu, menyapih venja af brjósti svezzare 離乳させる 젖을 떼다 atpratinti, nujunkyti atšķirt (bērnu) no krūts; atšķirt (dzīvnieka mazuli) no mātes cerai susu spenen avvenne (fra brystet) odstawić od piersi desmamar a înţărca отнимать от груди odstaviť odstaviti od prsi odvikavati od sisanja avvänja ให้ทารกกินอาหารอย่างอื่นแทนนมแม่ memeden/sütten kesmek 使斷奶 відривати від грудей دودھ چھڑانا cai sữa 使断奶