ween
/ˈwiːn/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.53 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
Misspelling of wean.
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "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."
- "Then sayde Peter unto hym: Perissh thou and thy money togedder. For thou wenest that the gyfte of god maye be obteyned with money?"
- "Wise men in old time would ween themselves fools; Fools now in new time will ween themselves wise."
- "… for I ween he will no longer suffer him to abide among the adulterous and wicked Generation of this World."
- "But neither heat, nor frost, nor thunder, Shall wholly do away, I ween, The marks of that which once hath been."
Etymology
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”).