wane

See also: Wane and wáne

English

WOTD – 4 September 2008

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /weɪn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪn
• Homophones: wain, Wayne

Etymology 1

From Middle English wane, from Old English wana (“defect, shortage”), from Proto-West Germanic *wanō, from Proto-Germanic *wanô, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- (“to leave, abandon; empty, deserted”).

Cognates

See also wan-, want, and waste. Compare also Dutch waan (“insanity”) and German Wahn (“insanity”) deprecated defect, Old Norse vanr (“lacking”) ( > Danish prefix van-, only found in compounds), Latin vanus, Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌽𐍃 (wans, “missing, lacking”), Albanian vonë (“late, futile, mentally retarded”), Armenian ունայն (unayn, “empty”), Old Saxon and Old High German wanon (“to decrease”), Modern Dutch weinig (“a few”), Modern German weniger (“less”), comparative of wenig (“few”) (-ig being a derivate suffix; -er the suffix of comparatives). Doublet of vain, vaunt, vaniloquent, vast, vacuum, vacant, vacate, which are Latin-derived, via the PIE root.

Noun

wane (plural wanes)

1. A gradual diminution in power, value, intensity etc.
   • 1853, Herman Melville, "Bartleby, the Scrivener," in Billy Budd, Sailor and Other Stories, New York: Penguin, 1968; reprinted 1995 as Bartleby, →ISBN, p. 3,

     In the morning, one might say, his face was of a fine florid hue, but after twelve o'clock, meridian -- his dinner hour -- it blazed like a grate full of Christmas coals; and continued blazing -- but, as it were, with a gradual wane -- till six o'clock, PM, or thereabouts; after which, I saw no more of the proprietor of the face, [...].

   • 1913, Michael Ott, The Catholic Encyclopedia, "Wenzel Anton Kaunitz",

     His influence which was on the wane during the reign of Joseph II grew still less during the reign of Leopold II (1790-2).

2. The lunar phase during which the sun seems to illuminate less of the moon as its sunlit area becomes progressively smaller as visible from Earth.
   • 1906, James George Frazer, Adonis, Attis, Osiris, volume 2, page 133:

     Some French peasants also prefer to sow in the wane.

   • 1926, H. P. Lovecraft, The Moon-Bog:

     It was very dark, for although the sky was clear the moon was now well in the wane, and would not rise till the small hours.

3. (literary) The end of a period.
   • 1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC:

     The day was in its prime, the day was in its wane, and still, uneasy in mind and body, she slept on.

   • 1845, Benjamin Disraeli, Sybil, or The Two Nations, Book 1, Chapter 3:

     The situation of the Venetian party in the wane of the eighteenth century had become extremely critical.

   

   Wane siding on a cabin at S.B. Elliott State Park

4. (woodworking) A rounded corner caused by lack of wood, often showing bark.
   • 2002, Peter Ross, Appraisal and Repair of Timber Structures, p. 11,

     Sapwood, or even bark, may appear on the corners, or may have been cut off, resulting in wane, or missing timber.

Usage notes

• When referring to the moon or a time period, the word is found mostly in prepositional phrases like in or on the wane.

Synonyms

• (a diminution in power, value, etc.): decrease, decline

Derived terms

• on the wane

 

Translations

gradual diminution

• Bulgarian: намаляване (bg) n (namaljavane)
• Finnish: hiipuminen (fi)
• French: déclin (fr) m
• Latin: decresco
• Russian: у́быль (ru) f (úbylʹ), убыва́ние (ru) n (ubyvánije), спад (ru) m (spad), упа́док (ru) m (upádok)

lunar phase

• Finnish: väheneminen (fi)
• French: déclin (fr) m
• Lithuanian: delčia (lt) f
• Russian: уще́рб (ru) m (uščérb), убыва́ние (ru) n (ubyvánije)
• Scottish Gaelic: eàrr-dhubh f
• Spanish: menguante de la Luna m

end of a period

• Finnish: loppu (fi), päättyminen (fi)
• French: déclin (fr) m

rounded corner

• Finnish: vajaasärmä
• French: flache (fr) f
• German: Fehlkante f
• Russian: обзо́л (ru) m (obzól)
• Welsh: pefel m

Etymology 2

From Middle English wanen, wanien, from Old English wanian, wonian, from Proto-West Germanic *wanōn, from Proto-Germanic *wanōną.

Verb

wane (third-person singular simple present wanes, present participle waning, simple past and past participle waned)

1. (intransitive) To progressively lose its splendor, value, ardor, power, intensity etc.; to decline.
   • 1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe: A Tragedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1676, →OCLC, (please specify the page number):

     You saw but sorrow in its waning form.

   • 1668, Sir Josiah Child, A New Discourse of Trade:

     Land and trade ever will wax and wane together.

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Chapter 118”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

     I have sat before the dense coal fire and watched it all aglow, full of its tormented flaming life; and I have seen it wane at last, down, down, to dumbest dust.

   • 1902, John Masefield, The Golden City of St. Mary:

     And in the cool twilight when the sea-winds wane […]

   • 1922, Michael Arlen, “Ep./1/1”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:

     And so it had always pleased M. Stutz to expect great things from the dark young man whom he had first seen in his early twenties ; and his expectations had waxed rather than waned on hearing the faint bruit of the love of Ivor and Virginia—for Virginia, M. Stutz thought, would bring fineness to a point in a man like Ivor Marlay, […].

   • 2022 September 30, Rebecca Ratcliffe, “Anger after Thai court rules 2014 coup leader can carry on as PM”, in The Guardian‎^[1], Guardian News & Media Limited:

     His popularity, however, has waned, say analysts.

2. (intransitive) Said of light that dims or diminishes in strength.
   • 1894, Algernon Charles Swinburne, A Nympholept:

     The skies may hold not the splendour of sundown fast; / It wanes into twilight as dawn dies down into day.

3. (intransitive, astronomy) Said of the Moon as it passes through the phases of its monthly cycle where its surface is less and less visible.
   • 1866, Sabine Baring-Gould, “The Man in the Moon”, in Curious Myths of the Middle Ages:

     The fall of Jack, and the subsequent fall of Jill, simply represent the vanishing of one moon-spot after another, as the moon wanes.

4. (intransitive) Said of a time period that comes to an end.
   • 1889, Algernon Charles Swinburne, A Swimmer's Dream:

     Fast as autumn days toward winter: yet it seems//Here that autumn wanes not, here that woods and streams

5. (intransitive, archaic) To decrease physically in size, amount, numbers or surface.
   • 1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], chapter XIX, in Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC:

     The snow which had been for some time waning, had given way entirely under the fresh gale of the preceding night.

   • 2012 August 30, Ann Gibbons, “Genome Brings Ancient Girl to Life”, in Science Now, retrieved 2012-09-04:

     Denisovans had little genetic diversity, suggesting that their small population waned further as populations of modern humans expanded.

6. (transitive, obsolete) To cause to decrease.
   • 1610, Ben Jonson, The Speeches at Prince Henry's Barriers:

     In which no lustful finger can profane him,
     Nor any earth with black eclipses wane him

   • 1797, Anna Seward, Letter to Mrs Childers of Yorkshire‎^[2]:

     Proud once and princely was the mansion, ere a succession of spendthrifts waned away its splendour.

Antonyms

• wax

Derived terms

• wax and wane

Translations

to progressively lose its splendor, value, ardor, power, intensity, etc.

• Bulgarian: намалявам (bg) (namaljavam), чезна (bg) (čezna)
• Catalan: minvar (ca)
• Dutch: tanen (nl)
• Finnish: hiipua (fi)
• French: décliner (fr)
• German: schwinden (de)
• Maori: riko, roku, roroku
• Polish: blednąć (pl) impf, zblednąć (pl) pf
• Russian: убыва́ть (ru) impf (ubyvátʹ), убы́ть (ru) pf (ubýtʹ)
• Spanish: menguar (es)
• Swedish: avta (sv)
• Ukrainian: слабшати (slabšaty), спадати (spadaty)

of light: to dim

• Bulgarian: гасна (bg) (gasna)
• Finnish: himmetä (fi), himmentyä (fi)

of the Moon, to become less visible

• Bulgarian: намалявам (bg) (namaljavam)
• Finnish: vähetä (fi)
• French: décroître (fr)
• German: abnehmen (de)
• Irish: téigh ar gcúl
• Japanese: 欠かける (ja) (kakeru)
• Maori: tōriwha, roku, roroku
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: minke

  Nynorsk: minka, minke

• Portuguese: minguar (pt)
• Spanish: menguar (es)

of a time period, to come to an end

• Bulgarian: приближавам се към края си (približavam se kǎm kraja si)
• Finnish: päättyä (fi)

to decrease physically in size, amount, numbers or surface

• Azerbaijani: tükənmək, azalmaq (az)
• Bulgarian: намалявам (bg) (namaljavam)
• Finnish: vähetä (fi), hiipua (fi); supistua (fi) (in size)
• French: décroître (fr)
• German: schrumpfen (de)
• Turkish: tükenmek (tr)
• Ukrainian: меншати (menšaty)

Etymology 3

From Scots wean.

Alternative forms

• wain, waine, wean

Noun

wane (plural wanes)

1. (Scotland, slang) A child.

Etymology 4

From Middle English wōne, wāne (“dwelling," "custom”), of unclear origins, compare wont.

Alternative forms

• wone (Southern England)

Noun

wane (plural wanes)

1. (chiefly Northern England and Scotland, obsolete) A house or dwelling.

Anagrams

• Ewan, Newa, anew, wean

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʋaː.nə/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: wa‧ne

Etymology 1

Uncertain. Compare Sranan Tongo wana.

Noun

wane c (uncountable)

1. (Suriname) a type of South American tree that produces hardwood, Sextonia rubra

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

wane

1. (dated or formal) singular present subjunctive of wanen

Fula

Etymology

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

Noun

wane nge (plural bani)

1. (Pular) a cow with a brown hide

References

• Oumar Bah, Dictionnaire Pular-Français, Avec un index français-pular, Webonary.org, SIL International, 2014.

Middle Dutch

Verb

wâne

1. inflection of wânen:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. first/third-person singular present subjunctive

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English wana, wona (noun) and wan, won (noun), related to wanian (“to diminish”).

Noun

wane (uncountable)

1. penury, deprivation, neediness
2. lack, absence
3. diminution

Alternative forms

• wan, won, wone; wain (Northern)

Descendants

• English: wane
• Scots: wane, waine

References

• “wāne, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

Probably from Old English wēan or wēana, oblique cases of wēa (“woe, grief, misery”).

Noun

wane (plural wanes)

1. woeful, miserable state; adversity; misfortune
2. affliction, tribulation
3. destruction

Alternative forms

• wan, won, wone
• weane, wæn, wæne, wæine, wen, wene (Early Middle English, southwest Midlands)

Descendants

• English: wane

References

• “wāne, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 3

From Old English wana, wona (adjective) and wan, won (adjective), related to wanian (“to diminish”).

Adjective

wane

1. inadequate, incomplete, imperfect
2. lacking, missing, absent

Alternative forms

• wan, wanne, wone, won, vane

Descendants

• English: wane
• Scots: wan, wane

References

• “wāne, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 4

Noun

wane (uncountable)

1. (Northern) Alternative form of vein

Etymology 5

Adverb

wane

1. Alternative form of fain

Etymology 6

Adjective

wane

1. Alternative form of wan

Etymology 7

Noun

wane (plural wanes)

1. (Northern, Early Middle English) Alternative form of wone (“dwelling”)

Etymology 8

Noun

wane (plural wanes)

1. (Northern) Alternative form of wone (“course”)

Etymology 9

Noun

wane (plural wanes)

1. Alternative form of wain (“wagon”)

Etymology 10

Noun

wane (plural wanes)

1. Alternative form of veine (“vein”)

Etymology 11

Verb

wane (third-person singular simple present waneth, present participle wanende, wanynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle waned)

1. Alternative form of wanen

Etymology 12

Adverb

wane

1. Alternative form of whenne

Conjunction

wane

1. Alternative form of whenne

Etymology 13

Verb

wane

1. Alternative form of wanne: singular simple past of winnen
2. Alternative form of wonnen: plural simple past of winnen

Etymology 14

Adverb

wane

1. Alternative form of whanne

Conjunction

wane

1. Alternative form of whanne