wane

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To gradually become weaker, smaller, or less.

   Public interest in the project waned after the first few months.

2. 2
   noun

   The period when the moon appears to grow smaller each night.

   The farmers traditionally planted certain crops during the wane of the moon.

Simplified etymology

Wane comes from Old English wanian, meaning “lessen.” Its surviving use for the diminishing visible portion of the moon contrasts with wax “grow, increase.”

From Middle English wane, from Old English wana (“defect, shortage”), from Proto-West Germanic *wanō, from Proto-Germanic *wanô, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- (“to leave, abandon; empty, deserted”). Cognates 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 (wans, “missing, lacking”), Albanian vonë (“late, futile, mentally retarded”), Armenian ունայն (unayn, “empty”), Old Saxon and Old High German wanon (“to decrease”), Mod…

Topics

External links

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