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ween
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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See also: Ween
English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle English wene, from Old English wēn, wēna (“hope, weening, expectation”), from Proto-West Germanic *wāni, from Proto-Germanic *wēniz, *wēnǭ (“hope, expectation”), from Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- (“to strive, love, want, reach, win”). Cognate with Dutch waan (“delusion”), Afrikaans waan (“delusion”), German Wahn (“illusion, false hope”).
Noun
ween (plural weens)
- (obsolete) Doubt; conjecture.
Etymology 2
From Middle English wenen, from Old English wēnan, from Proto-Germanic *wēnijaną. Cognate with Dutch wanen, German wähnen.
Verb
ween (third-person singular simple present weens, present participle weening, simple past weened or (obsolete) wende or (obsolete) wente, past participle weened or (obsolete) wend or (obsolete) went)
- (archaic) To suppose, imagine; to think, believe.
- 1481, Author unknown (pseudonym Sir John Mandeville), The travels of Sir John Mandeville:
- And when they will fight they will shock them together in a plump; that if there be 20000 men, men shall not ween that there be scant 10000.
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “viij”, in Le Morte Darthur, book IV:
- And ryght as Arthur was on horsbak / ther cam a damoisel from Morgan le fey and broughte vnto syr Arthur a swerd lyke vnto Excalibur / […] / and sayd vnto Arthur Morgan le fey sendeth here your swerd for grete loue / and he thanked her / & wende it had ben so / but she was fals / for the swerd and the scaubard was counterfeet & brutyll and fals
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- And right as Arthur was on horseback there came a damosel from Morgan le Fay, and brought unto Sir Arthur a sword like unto Excalibur, and the scabbard, and said unto Arthur, Morgan le Fay sendeth here your sword for great love. And he thanked her, and weened it had been so, but she was false, for the sword and the scabbard were counterfeit, and brittle, and false.
- 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Acts:
- Then sayde Peter unto hym: Perissh thou and thy money togedder. For thou wenest that the gyfte of god maye be obteyned with money?
- 1562, John Heywood, The proverbs, epigrams, and miscellanies of John Heywood:
- Wise men in old time would ween themselves fools; Fools now in new time will ween themselves wise.
- 1677, Thomas Mall, A cloud of witnesses:
- … for I ween he will no longer suffer him to abide among the adulterous and wicked Generation of this World.
- 1816, S[amuel] T[aylor] Coleridge, “(please specify the page)”, in Christabel: Kubla Khan, a Vision: The Pains of Sleep, London: […] John Murray, […], by William Bulmer and Co. […], →OCLC:
- But neither heat, nor frost, nor thunder,
Shall wholly do away, I ween,
The marks of that which once hath been.
- 1879, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert, Arthur Sullivan, composer, “When I was a lad”, in H.M.S. Pinafore; […], San Francisco: Bacon & Company, […], →OCLC:
- And that junior partnership, I ween, Was the only ship that I ever had seen.
- 1884, W.S. Gilbert, Princess Ida:
- Yet humble second shall be first, I ween
- 1888–1891, Herman Melville, “[Billy Budd, Foretopman.] Chapter XVIII.”, in Billy Budd and Other Stories, London: John Lehmann, published 1951, →OCLC:
- Little ween the snug card-players in the cabin of the responsibilities of the sleepless man on the bridge.
- 1974, Stanisław Lem, translated by Michael Kandel, The Cyberiad:
- Klapaucius too, I ween,
Will turn the deepest green
To hear such flawless verse from Trurl’s machine.
- 1481, Author unknown (pseudonym Sir John Mandeville), The travels of Sir John Mandeville:
- (dated) To expect, hope or wish.
Derived terms
Etymology 3
From Middle English weinen (“to wail, lament”), from Old English wānian (“to bewail, lament”), from Proto-Germanic *wainōną (“to cry, lament, grieve”). Cognate with Dutch wenen (“to weep, cry”), German weinen (“to weep, cry”), Icelandic veina (“to wail, cry out”), West Frisian weine (“to weep, cry”).
Verb
ween (third-person singular simple present weens, present participle weening, simple past and past participle weened)
References
Etymology 4
Verb
ween
- Misspelling of wean.
Etymology 5
Abbreviation of wiener dog
Noun
ween (plural weens)
Etymology 6
Abbreviation of wiener (penis)
Noun
ween (plural weens)
Anagrams
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Dutch
Pronunciation
Verb
ween
- inflection of wenen:
Anagrams
Low German
Verb
ween
- alternative spelling of wesen
North Frisian
Etymology
From Old Frisian wēden, from Proto-West Germanic *waiʀdīn (“like woad, made of woad”, hence “blue, bluish”). Cognate with English woaden.
Adjective
ween
Inflection
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Woiwurrung
Wolof
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