different between wheen vs ween

English

Alternative forms

• whean, whin

Etymology

From Middle English *wheen, quhein (also hwan, hwon, quhon), from Old English hw?ne, hw?ne (“somewhat, a little”), instrumental form of hw?n (“little, few, a little, trifle, somewhat, a little while”).

Noun

wheen (plural wheens)

1. (Britain dialectal) A little; a small number.
2. (Britain dialectal, Scotland, Northern Ireland) A quantity; a goodly number.
   • 1815, Walter Scott, Guy Mannering:

     I have six terriers at hame, forbye twa couple of slow-hunds, five grews, and a wheen other dogs.

References

• wheen in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wi?n/
• Homophones: wean
• Rhymes: -i?n

Etymology 1

From Middle English wene, from Old English w?n, w?na (“hope, weening, expectation”), from Proto-Germanic *w?niz, *w?n? (“hope, expectation”), from Proto-Indo-European *wenh?- (“to strive, love, want, reach, win”). Cognate with Dutch waan (“delusion”), Afrikaans waan (“delusion”), German Wahn (“illusion, false hope”).

Noun

ween (plural weens)

1. (obsolete) Doubt; conjecture.

Etymology 2

From Middle English wenen, from Old English w?nan, from Proto-Germanic *w?nijan?. Cognate with Dutch wanen, German wähnen.

Verb

ween (third-person singular simple present weens, present participle weening, simple past weened or (obsolete) wende or (obsolete) wente, past participle weened or (obsolete) wend or (obsolete) went)

1. (archaic) To suppose, imagine; to think, believe.
   • 1481, Author unknown (pseudonym Sir John Mandeville), The travels of Sir John Mandeville:

     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.

   • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Acts VIII:

     Then sayde Peter unto hym: Perissh thou and thy money togedder. For thou wenest that the gyfte of god maye be obteyned with money?

   • 1562, John Heywood, The proverbs, epigrams, and miscellanies of John Heywood:

     Wise men in old time would ween themselves fools; Fools now in new time will ween themselves wise.

   • 1677, Thomas Mall, A cloud of witnesses:

     … for I ween he will no longer suffer him to abide among the adulterous and wicked Generation of this World.

   • 1793, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Christabel:

     But neither heat, nor frost, nor thunder,

     Shall wholly do away, I ween,

     The marks of that which once hath been.

   • 1878, W.S. Gilbert, H.M.S. Pinafore ('When I was a lad'):

     And that junior partnership, I ween, Was the only ship that I ever had seen.

   • 1884, W.S. Gilbert, Princess Ida:

     Yet humble second shall be first, I ween

   • 1924, Herman Melville, Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co., Chapter 18, [1]

     Little ween the snug card-players in the cabin of the responsibilities of the sleepless man on the bridge.

   • 1974, Stanis?aw Lem, trans. Michael Kandel, The Cyberiad:

     Klapaucius too, I ween,
     Will turn the deepest green
     To hear such flawless verse from Trurl’s machine.

2. (dated) To expect, hope or wish.

Derived terms

• overween
• underween

Etymology 3

From Middle English weinen (“to wail, lament”), from Old English w?nian (“to bewail, lament”), from Proto-Germanic *wain?n? (“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”).

Verb

ween (third-person singular simple present weens, present participle weening, simple past and past participle weened)

1. (Northern England, Scotland, rare) To weep or cry.

2. (obsolete) To lament.

References

• The Dictionary of the Scots Language

Etymology 4

Verb

ween

1. Misspelling of wean.

Etymology 5

Abbreviation of wiener dog

Noun

ween (plural weens)

1. (slang) wiener dog, dachshund

Anagrams

• Ewen, enew, newe

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -e?n

Verb

ween

1. first-person singular present indicative of wenen
2. imperative of wenen

Anagrams

• wene

Low German

Verb

ween

1. Alternative spelling of wesen

North Frisian

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Adjective

ween

1. blue

Wolof

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

Noun

ween (definite form ween wi)

1. breast