wean
/wiːn/ (bre, ipa) · [wˈin] /wiːn/ (ame, ipa) · [wˈin] /ˈwēn How to pronounce wean (audio)/ (ame, mw) · /weɪn/ (bre, ipa) · [wˈin] /weɪn/ (ame, ipa)
wean — verb
- weanpresent simple I / you / we / they
- weanshe / she / it
- weanedpast simple
- weaning-ing form
1. to help an infant move from a diet of breast milk or formula to eating solid foo
to help an infant move from a diet of breast milk or formula to eating solid food, by reducing milk feeds slowly until the baby or young creature no longer nurses from its mother
Nora weaned her son at around six months when he started eating solid food.
wean + direct object (baby/animal)
The farm workers weaned the calves by separating them from their mothers at eight weeks.
passive: be weaned from + age
Anna slowly weaned the kitten off milk by mixing it with soft food each day.
Many parents find weaning hard because of the strong emotional tie with their baby.
Puppies are usually weaned by eight weeks and ready for a new home.
- transition
more general and neutral; 'transition a baby to solid food' sounds less emotional than 'wean'
- stop nursing
describes the action from the mother's perspective rather than the baby's
- nurse
to feed a baby from the breast; the opposite action
- breastfeed
the ongoing feeding that weaning brings to an end
文法句型
wean + baby/animal + from + noun
be weaned + onto + noun
用法筆記
Frequently used in the passive ('the baby was weaned at six months'). The preposition 'onto' introduces the new food (e.g., 'weaned onto solid food'), while 'off' emphasises removing the old food ('weaned off breast milk').
常見錯誤
❌ 'I weaned my baby from breastfeeding last week.' (correct but more natural: 'I weaned my baby off breast milk last week.') — 'wean off' is the more common phrasal pattern.
2. to make someone gradually stop depending on something they are addicted to or ha
to make someone gradually stop depending on something they are addicted to or have a strong habit for — for example, a drug, a bad habit, or a harmful system
The government wants to wean the country off fossil fuels with solar panel tax breaks.
wean + country + off + fossil fuels (abstract dependence)
Hana's doctor helped her gradually wean herself from sleeping pills over two months.
wean + reflexive pronoun + from + noun
Bilal weaned the sales team away from their old software with weekly training sessions.
Felipe was weaned on classic rock music that his father played every morning.
The clinic runs a programme to wean patients off nicotine patches within twelve weeks.
文法句型
wean + someone/something + from + noun
wean + someone/something + off + noun
be weaned + on + noun
用法筆記
The object is something the subject has grown dependent on — a substance, a habit, a system. 'Wean off' is the most frequent pattern in figurative use; 'wean from' sounds slightly more formal. 'Be weaned on' is a fixed expression meaning 'to be raised or strongly influenced by something from an early age' and is NOT negative — it describes formative exposure.
常見錯誤
wean — noun
- weansingular
- weansplural
1. a child or young person — used mainly in Scotland and Ireland as a friendly, eve
a child or young person — used mainly in Scotland and Ireland as a friendly, everyday term
There is no point buying food that the weans will not eat, she said.
Granda took the three weans to the park after school while their mother worked.
Scottish colloquial noun 'weans'
The neighbour's weans are always playing football in the street until dark.
When she asked the weans what they wanted for tea, they all shouted 'pizza!'
用法筆記
This is a dialect noun, not used in standard English outside Scotland and parts of Ireland. The plural is 'weans'. It is warm and informal — similar to 'wee one' or 'little one' in tone. Most learners only need to recognise this word when reading Scottish or Irish texts.