wane
/weɪn/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.83 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The lunar phase during which the sun seems to illuminate less of the moon as its sunlit area becomes progressively smaller as visible from Earth.
verb
To progressively lose its splendor, value, ardor, power, intensity etc.; to decline.
Intransitive verb
verb
For the Moon to pass through the phases of its monthly cycle where its surface is less and less visible.
Intransitive verb
Example Sentences
- "In the morning, one might say, his face was of a fine florid hue, but after twelve o’clock, meridian—his dinner hour—it blazed like a grate full of Christmas coals; and continued blazing—but, as it were, with a gradual wane—till six o’clock, P.M., or thereabouts; […]."
- "1913, Michael Ott, The Catholic Encyclopedia, "Wenzel Anton Kaunitz", His influence which was on the wane during the reign of Joseph II grew still less during the reign of Leopold II (1790-2)."
- "Some French peasants also prefer to sow in the wane."
- "It was very dark, for although the sky was clear the moon was now well in the wane, and would not rise till the small hours."
- "The day was in its prime, the day was in its wane, and still, uneasy in mind and body, she slept on."
- "The situation of the Venetian party in the wane of the eighteenth century had become extremely critical."
Etymology
From Middle English wane, from Old English wana (“defect, shortage”), from Proto-West Germanic *wanō, from Proto-Germanic *wanô, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- (“to leave, abandon; empty, deserted”). Cognates See also wan-, want, and waste. Compare also Dutch waan (“insanity”) and German Wahn (“insanity”) deprecated defect, Old Norse vanr (“lacking”) ( > Danish prefix van-, only found in compounds), Latin vanus, Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌽𐍃 (wans, “missing, lacking”), Albanian vonë (“late, futile, mentally retarded”), Armenian ունայն (unayn, “empty”), Old Saxon and Old High German wanon (“to decrease”), Modern Dutch weinig (“a few”), Modern German weniger (“less”), comparative of wenig (“few”) (-ig being a derivate suffix; -er the suffix of comparatives). Doublet of vain, vaunt, vaniloquent, vast, vacuum, vacant, vacate, which are Latin-derived, via the PIE root.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /weɪn/
- British English: /weɪn/