Meanings
present singular third person yeans · participle present yeaning · participle past yeaned · past yeaned
- archaictransitiveTo give birth to.
Weak as the lamb the hour that it is yeaned;
1800 William Wordsworth, Hart-Leap Well, line 39
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂egʷnós“lamb”
- Proto-West Germanic*gaaunōn
- Old English*ġeēanian
- Middle English*yenen
- Englishyean
From Middle English *yenen, ȝenen, eanen, from Old English *ġeēanian, ēanian (“to yean, bring forth young (usually lambs), bring forth as a ewe”) (for the prefixed form, compare Old English ġeēan, ġeēane (“yeaning”, adjective)), from Proto-West Germanic *gaaunōn, *aunōn (“to yean, lamb”), from *aunōną (“to yean, lamb”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂egʷnós (“lamb”). Cognate with Scots yean (“to yean”), Saterland Frisian bejänne (“to produce; show signs of calving”), West Frisian antsje, eandsje, inje (“to yean”), Dutch onen (“to yean”), Swedish öna (“to yean”, dialectal). Akin also to Latin agnus, Ancient Greek ἀμνός (amnós), Old Irish úan (“lamb”). See also ean.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with yean
Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
yean. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yean
“yean.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yean. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “yean,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yean.
Source: yean on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.