Unnumbered source etymology
Original entry ↗A soft cry or whimper; an act of mewling.
To cry weakly with a soft, high-pitched sound; to whimper; to whine.
From 1599 or earlier (1530 in a Scottish document), apparently from Shakespeare with this spelling. Perhaps from Middle English mewen (“to whimper”) + -le (frequentative suffix).
Relationships mentioned by the source
These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.
- Derivation mentionmewenenm · to whimper
Inspect preserved source fields
Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.
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"3": "mewen",
"id": "mew",
"t": "to whimper"
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"expansion": "Middle English mewen (“to whimper”)"
},
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"pos": "noun",
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"A soft cry or whimper; an act of mewling."
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"pos": "verb",
"glosses": [
"To cry weakly with a soft, high-pitched sound; to whimper; to whine."
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