Weening

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Characterized by the process of gradually moving away from dependence; referring to the period when a young mammal transitions from mother's milk to solid food; indicating a shift in behavioral reliance or emotional attachment over time
2. Describing the state in which an offspring begins to detach from its parent for self-sufficiency; indicating the gradual reduction in feeding by a mother; marking a change in developmental stages or independence in young animals
3. Relating to the phase where young creatures alter their main source of nutrition; highlighting the transition in an animal's maturation process; denoting a decrease in reliance on maternal care or resources

Etymology: The verb "weaning" is the present participle and gerund of "wean," so its history is really the history of "wean," which has a different and older pedigree than its current sense suggests. The English verb "ween" means to suppose or think, and "weaning" in the sense of separating a young animal from its mother's milk is a separate, later-developed sense of the same verb family. The source lineage runs from Old English "wēning," meaning supposition, doubt, or a doubtful thought, formed from "ween" plus the suffix "-ing." In Middle English the noun carried the same sense of opinion or presumption. The word "ween" itself is a familiar Old English verb meaning to think or suppose, and the agricultural sense of "wean" grew out of that same stock of words. The surprising twist is that a word once about thinking and doubt came to describe the moment a young creature gives up its mother's milk.

Synonyms: thinking, believing, supposing, considering, assuming