disown

C2+ Topic:Actions & Processes

US /dɪsˈoʊn/ UK /dɪsˈəʊn/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

verb
to refuse to acknowledge or claim as one's own

His family threatened to disown him over the scandal.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to refuse to acknowledge or... repudiate renounce reject disclaim disavow abandon forsake

Opposites

acknowledge claim own accept embrace

Word family

Derived forms disownmentdisowned

Related forms own

Etymology

From dis- ('reversal') + own; own from Old English āgen ('one's own'), past participle of āgan ('to possess'), from Proto-Germanic *aiganaz, from PIE *h₂eyḱ- ('to possess').

āgen Old English *aiganaz Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Actions & Processes

External links

# disown

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** /dɪsˈoʊn/
**IPA (UK):** /dɪsˈəʊn/

## Meanings
1. to refuse to acknowledge or claim as one's own

## Examples
- His family threatened to disown him over the scandal.

## Synonyms
- repudiate
- renounce
- reject
- disclaim
- disavow
- abandon
- forsake

## Antonyms
- acknowledge
- claim
- own
- accept
- embrace

## Derived Forms
- disownment
- disowned

## Related Forms
- own

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: āgen
- Root: *aiganaz

## Etymology
From dis- ('reversal') + own; own from Old English āgen ('one's own'), past participle of āgan ('to possess'), from Proto-Germanic *aiganaz, from PIE *h₂eyḱ- ('to possess').

## AI Etymology
Disown comes from dis- ('reversal') + own; own from Old English āgen ('one's own'), past participle of āgan ('to possess'), from Proto-Germanic *aiganaz, from PIE *h₂eyḱ- ('to possess'). The historical trail runs through Old English āgen and Proto-Germanic *aiganaz. Morphologically, the surface form is analyzable into prefixes, suffixes, compounds, or participial endings that carry part of the history. In modern use it means to refuse to acknowledge or claim as one's own. Derived formations include disownment, disowned; related forms include own.

## Topics
- Actions & Processes

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