wane

Meanings

Noun

• A gradual diminution in power, value, intensity etc.
• 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.
• The end of a period.
• A rounded corner caused by lack of wood, often showing bark.
• A child.
• A house or dwelling.

Verb

• To progressively lose its splendor, value, ardor, power, intensity etc.; to decline.
• Said of light that dims or diminishes in strength.
• Said of the Moon as it passes through the phases of its monthly cycle where its surface is less and less visible.
• Said of a time period that comes to an end.
• To decrease physically in size, amount, numbers or surface.
• To cause to decrease.

Related

Similar words

• decrease, decline

Opposite words

• wax

Origin

• The noun is derived from Old English wana; the verb from Old English wanian via Middle English wanien. Both ultimately trace to Proto-West Germanic *wanōn, from Proto-Germanic *wanōną, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- ("to leave, abandon; empty, deserted").
• 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 ("missing, lacking"), Albanian vonë ("late, futile, mentally retarded"), Armenian ունայն ("empty"), Old Saxon and Old High German wanon ("to decrease"), Modern Dutch weinig ("a few"), Modern German weniger ("less"), comparative of wenig (-ig being a derivate suffix; -er the suffix of comparatives). vain, vaunt, vaniloquent, vast, vacuum, vacant, vacate, which are Latin-derived, via the PIE root.
• From Scots wean.
• From Middle English wone, wane, of unclear origins, compare wont.