wake

/ˈweɪk/WAYK
/ˈweɪk/WAYK

Meaningbecome awake

Common meaning: stop sleeping

Journey through time

  1. Aryan root · reconstructed√WAG or UG‘wet, to be moist’No written record; from Skeat’s list of Aryan roots, no. 337, p. 742 · scan
  2. Old Englishwacan‘become awake’sourceB&T
  3. Middle Englishwaken‘become awake’source
  4. Englishmeaning shiftsbecome awake → stop sleepingwake‘stop sleeping’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Built on Old English wacan ‘become awake’.

Roots

  • wacan Old English “become awake”

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