ween
/ˈwiːn/
ween noun: doubt; conjecture. Also the misspelling of wean.
Noun (1)
ween (plural weens)
Verb (1)
ween (third-person singular simple present weens, present participle weening, simple past weened or (obsolete) wende or (obsolete) wente, past participle weened or (obsolete) wende or (obsolete) wente or (obsolete) wend or (obsolete) went)
- To suppose, imagine; to think, believe.
- 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 10000.1481, Author unknown (pseudonym Sir John Mandeville), The travels of Sir John Mandeville
- 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...
- To expect, hope or wish.
Verb (2)
ween (third-person singular simple present weens, present participle weening, simple past and past participle weened)
Noun (2)
ween (plural weens)
Noun (3)
ween (plural weens)
Also used as
ween is also the misspelling of wean.
Examples of ween in a sentence
- Wise men in old time would ween themselves fools; Fools now in new time will ween themselves wise.1562, John Heywood, The proverbs, epigrams, and miscellanies of John Heywood:
- … for I ween he will no longer suffer him to abide among the adulterous and wicked Generation of this World.1677, Thomas Mall, A cloud of witnesses:
- And that junior partnership, I ween, Was the only ship that I ever had seen.1879, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert, Arthur Sullivan, composer, “When I was a lad”, in H.M.S. Pinafore; […], San Francisco: Bacon & Company...
- Yet humble second shall be first, I ween1884, W.S. Gilbert, Princess Ida:
Forms of ween
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | weens |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | weens |
| present participle | weening |
| past | weened |
| past participle | weened |
| past (obsolete) | wende |
| past (obsolete) | wente |
| past participle (obsolete) | wende |
| past participle (obsolete) | wente |
| past participle (obsolete) | wend |
| past participle (obsolete) | went |
Origin of ween
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”).
From Middle English wenen, from Old English wēnan, from Proto-Germanic *wēnijaną. Cognate with Dutch wanen, German wähnen.
From Middle English weinen (“to wail, lament”), from Old English wānian (“to bewail, lament”), from Proto-Germanic *wainōną (“to cry, lament, grieve”). Cognate with Dutch wenen (“to weep, cry”), German weinen (“to weep, cry”), Icelandic veina (“to wail, cry out”), West Frisian weine (“to weep, cry”).
Words formed from ween
Words that rhyme with ween
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- glean
- between
- byzantine
- canteen
- greene
- preen
- Racine
- careen
- intervene
- lean
- wean
- Christine
- obscene
- routine
- skene
- spleen
- submarine
- cuisine
- gasoline
- irene
- red bean
- serene
- -ene
- baleen
- demean
- eleventeen
- fascine
- gombeen
- latrine
- pristine
- Qazvin
- sheen
- tangerine
- unclean
- unseen
- vaccine
- amine
- aquamarine
- Beane
- beseen
- bottine
- chopine
- Enigma machine
- Eugene
- gene
- in between
- internecine
- jean
Questions about ween
- What does ween mean?
- Ween means doubt; conjecture.
- How do you use ween in a sentence?
- Wise men in old time would ween themselves fools; Fools now in new time will ween themselves wise.
- What part of speech is ween?
- Ween can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce ween?
- Ween is pronounced /ˈwiːn/.
- What is the plural of ween?
- The plural of ween is weens.
Words near ween in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ween (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-ween.ogg.
Cite this entry: “ween.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ween. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.