waken
pronunciation
How to pronounce waken in British English:
UK [ˈweɪkən]
How to pronounce waken in American English:
US [ˈweɪkən]
-
- Verb:
- cause to become awake or conscious
- stop sleeping
Word Origin
- waken (v.)
- "to become awake, cease to sleep," Old English wæcnan, wæcnian "to rise, awake; spring from, come into being," from the same source as wake (v.). OED regards the ending as the -n- "suffix of inchoative verbs of state," but Barnhart rejects this and says it is simply -en (1). Figurative sense was in Old English. Transitive sense of "to rouse (someone or something) from sleep" is recorded from c. 1200. Related: Wakened; wakening.
Example
- 1. From my wings are shaken the dews that waken .
- 2. Sit on his bed and gently smooth his hair as you softly waken him .
- 3. The noise is enough to waken the dead !
- 4. The princess did not waken for a hundred years .
- 5. What time are you going to waken him ?