Wee vs Wen - What's the difference?
wee | wen |
(Scotland, Northern Ireland, North England, NZ) Small, little.
* 2008 , (James Kelman), Kieron Smith, Boy , Penguin 2009, p. 73:
(colloquial, uncountable) urine
(colloquial) An act of urination.
(colloquial) To urinate.
A cyst on the skin.
* 1854 , (Henry David Thoreau), (Walden) ,
* 1973 , (Thomas Pynchon), Gravity's Rainbow :
* 1996 , (David Foster Wallace), Infinite Jest , Abacus 2013, p. 4:
As nouns the difference between wee and wen
is that wee is urine while wen is a cyst on the skin.As an adjective wee
is small, little.As a verb wee
is to urinate.As a proper noun Wen is
{{surname|common|from=Chinese}} of east Asian derivation.wee
English
(wikipedia wee)Etymology 1
From (etyl) (15c).Adjective
(er)- I had not seen a wee' boy do it like that before. He was ' weer than me and his swimming was just like splashing about.
- You looked a little cold so I lit a wee fire.
References
* Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary: Tenth Edition (1997)Etymology 2
UnknownNoun
(-)- to have a wee
Synonyms
* wee wee * See also * See alsoVerb
Synonyms
* See alsowen
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) .Noun
(en noun)Walden:
- When I have met an immigrant tottering under a bundle which contained his all--looking like an enormous wen which had grown out of the nape of his neck--I have pitied him, not because that was his all, but because he had all that to carry.
- Creeps, foreigners with tinted, oily skin, wens , sties, cysts, wheezes, bad teeth, limps, staring or—worse—with Strange Faraway Smiles.
- I am debating whether to risk scratching the right side of my jaw, where there is a wen .