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Wean

Dialect
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A child or young baby; a term of endearment for a small child in Scotland.

Detailed Definition
"Wean" is one of the most tender words in Scots, naming the small child with all the affection and protectiveness that relationship demands. It appears in lullabies, poems of motherhood, and elegies for lost children, and it carries the weight of care and vulnerability that the word "child" sometimes lacks. In Scottish working-class poetry of the twentieth century, "wean" grounds verse in the realities of urban family life, and it remains a living, vital word in Scots spoken today, connecting contemporary speech to centuries of parental tenderness.
Example
Example in poetry:
"Wean" means a young child; A poet might write: "The wee wean slept by the fire's low glow — / its breath as soft as the first of snow." for a lullaby scene; "She raised her wean wi' little but love — / nae wealth below but enough above." celebrates maternal dedication; "The wean would ask the oldest questions — / why the stars and where the wind went." captures childhood wonder; "A wean's laugh fills a house like light — / nae corner left in sorrow's night." uses the child to represent joy; "The wean grew up and faced the wide — / but home still walked beside its stride." shows how childhood shapes the adult; "Every wean deserves a world of peace — / a simple truth that will not cease." uses the word for a moral statement
Additional Notes
Wean, derived historically from “wee one,” is an affectionate Scots term for a child and frequently appears in domestic, sentimental, and working-class poetry. It often carries warmth, tenderness, vulnerability, or family intimacy rather than simply denoting age. In literary contexts, a wean may symbolise innocence, continuity, poverty, or future hope. Compare with bairn, another major Scots term for child, though nuances of usage may differ regionally. For students of Scottish literature, recognising familial vocabulary like this is essential for understanding emotional register and cultural realism in vernacular verse.
Also Known As
Bairn Wee one Child
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