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 ‘accustom’). This was derived from the adjective *wanaz ‘accustomed’, which in turn was formed from the base *wan-, *wen-, *wun-(source also of English winsome, wish, and wont ‘accustomed’ [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.
例文
1. It can be extremely difficult to wean children off junk food.
子供におやつを食べる習慣を変えるのは難しいことがあります。
2.The hospital managed to wean her off the drug.
病院は彼女にこの薬への依存を徐々に減らすようにした。
3.The patch enables smokers to wean themselves off cigaretes very gradually.
このパッチは喫煙者がゆっくりとタバコを止めることができる。
4.He was sent away to school to wean him from bad companions.
悪い仲間との付き合いを断ち切るために学校に送る。
5.You are given pills with small quantities of nicotine to wean you from cigarettes.