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wede

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

Gone, vanished, or withered away; past participle of the Scots verb "weed" meaning to waste or perish.

Detailed Definition
"Wede" (also spelled "weed") signifies a gradual fading or wasting, not just disappearance. In Elliot's refrain, "a' wede away," it powerfully suggests that the young men have not merely departed but have been stripped from the living world like flowers blighted by frost. This verb appears in older Scots poetry to describe decay, loss, and the transience of beauty. Its usage carries a visceral, organic quality—the wasting of plant life mirrors the wasting of a generation. Unlike "gone," "wede" implies an irreversible withering, making it devastatingly apt for elegy. The word's archaic flavour lends a timeless, ritual quality to lament.
Example
Example in poetry:
wede|"The Flowers of the Forest are a' wede away" (Jean Elliot, "A Lament for Flodden") uses "wede" as the poem's devastating refrain, signifying that the finest young men have not just gone but have withered and wasted away like blighted flowers.; "But now they are wither'd and a' wede away" (Alison Cockburn, "The Flowers of the Forest") uses "wede" alongside "wither'd" to emphasise the organic, irreversible decay of the lost generation.; "The Flowers of the Forest are a' wede away" (from the traditional lament) shows how the phrase has become a fixed expression of Scottish mourning, used at funerals and commemorations.; "Lakkyt þe eyþer gold or fe, or ony ryche wede?" (from a ballad) uses "wede" in its older sense of clothing or garment, showing the word's historical range of meanings.
Additional Notes
"Wede" is a particularly poignant Scots verb meaning to waste, wither, or vanish away, and its use in Elliot's refrain—"The Flowers of the Forest are a' wede away"—has made it one of the most memorable and devastating words in Scottish elegy. The term carries an organic, natural quality, suggesting not just disappearance but a gradual, irreversible decay like flowers blighted by frost. For poetry students, "wede" offers an opportunity to explore how poets use vocabulary to create resonant metaphors; the word transforms the fallen young men into flowers that have withered, linking human loss to the cycles of nature. The term appears in the older Scots ballad that inspired Elliot, and its retention in her poem shows her respect for the traditional language of lament. The word's archaic flavour and its association with organic decay make it devastatingly apt for elegy, and its repeated use in the refrain creates an incantatory effect that has made the phrase proverbial in Scottish culture. In teaching, contrasting "wede" with more neutral terms like "gone" or "departed" reveals how the Scots vocabulary's specificity and sensory richness can transform a simple statement of absence into a profound meditation on loss and transience. The word is also related to the older sense of "wede" meaning clothing or garment, but in Elliot's usage it is firmly associated with the wasting of the land's most precious growth—the flowers that are the young men of Scotland.
Also Known As
Weed Weed-away Wede-away (phrase) Wither-and-wede Wede-and-waste Wede-grown (overgrown) Weed-like (wasted) Weded (past tense)
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