weakness

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English weikenes, also waikenes,^[2][3] formed from Middle English weike + -nes,^[3] the forerunners of weak and -ness.^[4][5] The adjective is from Old Norse veikr (“lacking strength; pliable”),^[5][6] which the OED gives as the nearest form of an early Scandinavian source.^[4] It is cognate with Old English wac (“weak, pliant”),^[5] and goes back to Proto-Germanic *waika- (“to yield”),^[5] which Etymonline and the American Heritage Dictionary derive from Proto-Indo-European *weik- (“to bend”).^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The quality or condition of being weak; lack of strength or power: about 1390, in W. Hilton's exposition of Qui habitat.^[4] Etymonline dates the noun to about 1300,^[5] Dictionary.com to 1250–1300,^[2] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged to the 14th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The OED compares the earlier noun wokeness, formed on the adjective woke and used in the same senses from Old English until 1662.^[4] The general sense widened to a countable one in the 16th century: a flaw in a person's character, from 1528 in Tyndale,^[4] and an attack of faintness or a weakened physical state, from 1536, now rare.^[4][7] Etymonline dates the meaning "a disadvantage, a weak point" to the 1590s,^[5] but the OED's first quotation for a weak point in a thing, as opposed to a person, is of 1836.^[4] Johnson (1755) separated want of strength, infirmity or unhealthiness, want of cogency, and want of judgment or resolution.^[8] The OED has the sense "self-indulgent liking" from 1683, in a translation of M. de Scudéry,^[4] and Etymonline from 1712.^[5] From 1822, in Byron's Vision of Judgment, the word could also name the person or thing that one cannot resist.^[4][5]

Timeline

• c. 1390 – the quality or condition of being weak.^[4] Etymonline has it from about 1300.^[5]
• 1528 – a flaw or failing in a person's character.^[4]
• 1536 – a weakened physical condition; an attack of faintness.^[4]
• 1683 – a self-indulgent liking for a person or thing.^[4] Etymonline dates this to 1712.^[5]
• 1822 – with a possessive, a person or thing one cannot resist.^[4][5]
• 1836 – a weak point or shortcoming in something.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The state of being weak; lack of strength, power or vigor: The weakness in her legs lasted all winter.^[9][3][4]
2. A moment or period of feebleness or lack of resolve: In a moment of weakness he agreed to chair the meeting again.^[3]
3. A defect or failing, especially in a person's character.^[9][6][4]
4. A weak point in something; a shortcoming: The weakness of the plan was its cost.^[4][7]
5. A special fondness or self-indulgent liking: a weakness for old motorbikes.^[9][6][4]
6. The person or thing one is excessively fond of: Salted almonds are her weakness.^[6][4]
7. (rare) A weakened physical state; an attack of faintness.^[4][7]

Word family

• nonweakness

Related words

• weak
• weaken
• weakling
• -ness

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins