Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

waken

/ˈweɪkən/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.29 in modern English

Syllables: wak-en
IPA: /ˈweɪkən/

12

Scrabble Score

5

Letters

2

Syllables

5

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To wake or rouse from sleep.

Transitive verb

verb

To awaken; to cease to sleep; to be awakened; to stir.

Intransitive verb

Example Sentences

"Early, Turnus wakening with the light."
"She wakened in sharp panic, bewildered by the grotesquerie of some half-remembered dream in contrast with the harshness of inclement fact, drowsily realizing that since she had fallen asleep it had come on to rain smartly out of a shrouded sky."

Etymology

From Middle English waknen, from Old English wæcnan, from Proto-Germanic *waknaną.

Origin

Source language: Middle English

Word Breakdown

Root: *weǵ-, waknen, wæcnan, *waknaną

Usage

Inflected Forms

wakens (present, singular) wakening (participle, present) wakened (participle, past) wakened (past)

Derived Forms

rewaken wakener

Frequently Paired Words

awaken

Synonyms

disturb wake up awake arouse awaken wake come alive rouse

Rhymes With

taken bacon mistaken shaken jamaican awaken forsaken macon retaken reawaken aken unshaken

Questions

How do you pronounce waken?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈweɪkən/.
What does waken mean?: To wake or rouse from sleep.
Where does waken come from?: It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce waken

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “waken”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈweɪkən/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “waken”.
Repeat and practice — Say “waken” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.