wean: [OE] The etymological notion underlying wean is of ‘becoming accustomed’. The specialization to ‘making accustomed to food other than mother’s milk’ is a secondary development. The word comes from a prehistoric Germanic *wanjan (source also of German gew?hnen ‘a(chǎn)ccustom’). This was derived from the adjective *wanaz ‘a(chǎn)ccustomed’, which in turn was formed from the base *wan-, *wen-, *wun-(source also of English winsome, wish, and wont ‘a(chǎn)ccustomed’ [OE]). => winsome, wish, wont
wean (v.)
"train (an infant or animal) to forego suckling," c. 1200, from Old English wenian "to accustom, habituate," from Proto-Germanic *wanjan (cognates: Old Norse venja, Dutch wennen, Old High German giwennan, German gew?hnen "to accustom"), from PIE *won-eyo-, from root *wen- (1) "to desire, strive for." The sense of "accustom a child to not suckling from the breast" in Old English generally was expressed by gewenian or awenian, which has a sense of "unaccustom" (compare German abgew?hnen, entw?hnen "to wean," literally "to unaccustom"). The modern word might be one of these with the prefix worn off, or it might be wenian in a specialized sense of "accustom to a new diet." Figurative extension to any pursuit or habit is from 1520s.
雙語(yǔ)例句
1. It can be extremely difficult to wean children off junk food.
讓兒童改掉吃零食的習(xí)慣有時(shí)十分困難.
來(lái)自《簡(jiǎn)明英漢詞典》
2. The hospital managed to wean her off the drug.
醫(yī)院已讓她逐步減少依賴(lài)這種藥.
來(lái)自《簡(jiǎn)明英漢詞典》
3. The patch enables smokers to wean themselves off cigarettes very gradually.
這張貼片能使吸煙者很緩慢地把煙戒掉.
來(lái)自《簡(jiǎn)明英漢詞典》
4. He was sent away to school to wean him from bad companions.
送他上學(xué),以便與壞的伙伴斷絕來(lái)往.
來(lái)自《現(xiàn)代英漢綜合大詞典》
5. You are given pills with small quantities of nicotine to wean you from cigarettes.