weaken

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English weiknen, which the Middle English Dictionary and Etymonline take as probably borrowed from Old Norse veikna (“to become weak”);^[2][3] the MED compares weik (“weak”), itself from Old Norse, with veikr as the base.^[2] The OED allows either a borrowing from early Scandinavian, comparing the Old Icelandic verb (in a late source) and Old Swedish and Old Danish verbs, all meaning "to become weak", or a formation within English from weak and the verb suffix -en;^[4] in later use it was probably formed independently in English.^[4][5] Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com give only the English formation.^[6][7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of wine, to make the wits feeble or deranged: about 1400, in the poem Cleanness, where wine al waykned his wyt.^[2][4] The MED reads the verb there as intransitive, "to become feeble or deranged", and the OED as transitive, "to reduce the ability of the mind to function".^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

After the single Middle English record the verb reappears in the 16th century, now mostly transitive: Merriam-Webster dates its main transitive sense to 1530,^[6] the OED records the lessening of authority or power from 1530 (Palsgrave) and the weakening of physical strength from about 1529,^[4] and Etymonline dates the transitive sense to the 1560s.^[3] From 1548 it was used of weakening an argument or a case, and since 1550 of weakening faith or resolve.^[4] Intransitive uses followed: of the body from about 1541, of a nation or party from 1594, of the mind from Shakespeare's King Lear, and of power or influence only from 1833.^[4] Johnson (1755) defined it as "to debilitate; to enfeeble; to deprive of strength".^[9] The simple verb weak, recorded from about 1400, became obsolete, leaving weaken in its place.^[3][4]

Timeline

• c. 1400 – to make or become feeble in mind, in Cleanness.^[2][4]
• c. 1529 – to lessen the physical strength of a person or animal.^[4]
• 1530 – to lessen authority, influence or power.^[4][6]
• 1548 – to weaken a nation or party; to weaken an argument.^[4]
• 1550 – to weaken faith or resolve.^[4]
• 1594 – intransitive, of a nation or party, to become weaker.^[4]
• 1662 – intransitive, of resolve, to lose strength.^[4]
• 1833 – intransitive, of power or influence, to diminish.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make weaker; to reduce the strength or vigour of: The long illness weakened her heart.^[6][10][4]
2. To become weak or weaker: His grip weakened as the hours passed.^[10][11][4]
3. To make less effective, convincing or authoritative: The new evidence weakened the prosecution's case.^[4][6][12]
4. To become less firm or resolute; to begin to give in.^[11][4]

Word family

• weakener
• reweaken

Related words

• weak
• weakness
• weakling

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b The Chambers Dictionary (2008), 11th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap
12. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press