weep

English

Pronunciation

enPR: wēp, IPA^(key): /wiːp/
Audio (US) (file)
Rhymes: -iːp

Etymology 1

From Middle English wepen, from Old English wēpan (“to weep, complain, bewail, mourn over, deplore”), from Proto-West Germanic *wōpijan, from Proto-Germanic *wōpijaną (“to weep”), from Proto-Indo-European *weh₂b- (“to call, cry, complain”).

Cognate with Scots wepe, weip (“to weep”), Saterland Frisian wapia (“to cry, complain”), Icelandic æpa (“to yell, shout”).

Verb

weep (third-person singular simple present weeps, present participle weeping, simple past and past participle wept or (poetic, otherwise nonstandard) weeped)

To cry; to shed tears, especially when accompanied with sobbing or other difficulty speaking, as an expression of emotion such as sadness or joy.
- 1847 November 1, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline, a Tale of Acadie, Boston, Mass.: William D. Ticknor & Company, OCLC 12526426, part I:
  They wept together in silence.
To lament; to complain.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Numbers 11:13:
  They weep unto me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat.
To give off moisture in small quantities, e.g. due to condensation.
1. (medicine, of a wound or sore) To produce secretions.
2. To flow in drops; to run in drops.
  a weeping spring, which discharges water slowly
- c. 1596–1599, William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene iii]:
  The blood weeps from my heart.
To hang the branches, as if in sorrow; to be pendent; to droop; said of a plant or its branches.
(obsolete, transitive) To weep over; to bewail.
- 1717, Matthew Prior, The Dove
  Fair Venus wept the sad disaster
  Of having lost her favorite dove.

Synonyms

See also Thesaurus:weep

Derived terms

beweep
forweep
read 'em and weep
weeping willow
weep in one's beer
weep Irish
weepy

Translations

to cry, shed tears

Afrikaans: huil (af)
Albanian: qaj (sq)
Arabic: بَكَى‎ (bakā), يَبْكِي‎ (yabkī) (present tense)
Aramaic:
Syriac: ܒܟܐ‎ (bka)
Armenian: լալ (hy) (lal), լաց լինել (lacʿ linel)
Aromanian: plãngu, lãcãrmedz, lãcrimedz
Asturian: llorar (ast)
Azerbaijani: ağlamaq (az)
Balinese: ngeling
Bashkir: илау (ilaw)
Basque: negar egin
Belarusian: пла́каць impf (plákacʹ)
Bengali: কাঁদা (bn) (kãda), কান্দা (kanda), ক্রন্দন করা (krôndônô kôra)
Bulgarian: пла́ча (bg) impf (pláča)
Burmese: ငို (my) (ngui)
Catalan: plorar (ca)
Chechen: делха (delxa)
Cherokee: ᎠᏦᏱᎭ (atsoyiha)
Cheyenne: -a'xaame
Chinese:
Cantonese: 喊 (haam³), 哭 (huk¹) (formal writing)
Dungan: кў (kw)
Gan: 哭 (kuh⁶), 叫 (jieu⁴)
Hakka: 叫 (kieu)
Jin: 哭 (kueh⁴)
Mandarin: 哭 (zh) (kū), 抽泣 (zh) (chōuqì), 泣 (zh) (qì) (literary), 流眼淚／流眼泪 (liú yǎnlèi), 流淚／流泪 (zh) (liúlèi)
Min Bei: 啼 (tî)
Min Dong: 啼嘛 (tiè-mà), 啼 (tiè)
Min Nan: 吼 (háu), 哭 (zh-min-nan) (khàu)
Wu: 哭 (khoq)
Xiang: 哭 (ku⁶)
Coptic: ⲣⲓⲙⲉ (rime)
Czech: plakat (cs) impf, brečet (cs) impf
Danish: græde (da)
Drung: ngeu
Dutch: huilen (nl), wenen (nl), schreien (nl)
Eastern Cham: ꨨꨳꨩ
Egyptian:

(rmj)
Esperanto: larmi
Estonian: nutma (et), nuuksuma
Even: хоҥ- (hoŋ-)
Evenki: соңо-
Fijian: tagica
Finnish: itkeä (fi), kyynelehtiä (fi)
French: pleurer (fr)
Friulian: vaî, lagrimâ
Galician: lagrimexar (gl), chorar (gl), bagoar (gl)
Gallo: breur'
Georgian: ტირილი (ṭirili)
German: weinen (de)
Gothic: 𐌲𐍂𐌴𐍄𐌰𐌽 (grētan)
Greek: κλαίω (el) (klaío)
Ancient: κλαίω (klaíō), δακρύω (dakrúō)
Hindi: रोना (hi) (ronā)
Hungarian: sír, könnyezik (hu)
Icelandic: gráta (is)
Indonesian: tangis (id), menangis (id)
Ingush: велха (velxa)
Interlingua: plorar, lacrimar
Irish: caoin, goil
Italian: piangere (it), versare lacrime, lacrimare (it)
Japanese: 泣く (ja) (なく, naku), すすり泣く (ja) (susurinaku), しくしく泣く (ja) (shikushiku naku)
Kabuverdianu: txora
Kalmyk: уульх (uulĭh)
Kazakh: жылау (kk) (jylau)
Khmer: យំ (km) (yum)
Korean: 울다 (ko) (ulda)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: گریان‎ (ku) (giryan)
Northern Kurdish: girîn (ku)
Kyrgyz: ыйлоо (ky) (ıyloo)
Lao: ກຳສວນ (kam sūan), ຍົມ (nyom)
Latin: fleō (la), lacrimō (la)
Latvian: raudāt
Lithuanian: verkti (lt), raudoti
Lombard: piang (lmo), piangg
Luxembourgish: kräischen (lb)
Macedonian: плаче impf (plače)
Malay: tangis, menangis
Malayalam: കരയുക (ml) (karayuka)
Maltese: beka
Maori: wairutu, wairurutu, tangitangi, rutu, rurutu, taurere
Mongolian: уйлах (mn) (ujlax)
Nahuatl: chocaya
Nanai: сонго-
Neapolitan: chiagne
Norwegian:
Bokmål: gråte (no)
Ojibwe: mawi
Old Church Slavonic: плакати impf (plakati)
Old East Slavic: плакати impf (plakati)
Old English: grēotan
Oromo: boo'uu
Pacoh: nhiêm
Persian: گریستن‎ (fa) (geristan), گریه کردن‎ (fa) (gerye kardan)
Polish: płakać (pl) impf
Portuguese: chorar (pt), lacrimejar (pt)
Romanian: plânge (ro), lăcrima (ro)
Russian: пла́кать (ru) impf (plákatʹ), рыда́ть (ru) impf (rydátʹ), лить слёзы impf (litʹ sljózy)
Sanskrit: रोदिति (sa) (roditi)
Scottish Gaelic: caoin, guil
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: пла̏кати impf, јецати impf
Roman: plȁkati (sh) impf, jecati (sh) impf
Sinhalese: අඬනවා (aⁿḍanawā)
Slovak: plakať impf
Slovene: jokati (sl) impf
Spanish: llorar (es), lagrimar (es), lacrimar
Swedish: gråta (sv), grina (sv)
Tagalog: lumuha, umiyak, humagulgol, humagulhol
Tajik: геристан (geristan), герйе кардан (gerye kardan)
Tamil: அழு (ta) (aḻu)
Tatar: еларга (tt) (elarga)
Telugu: ఏడ్చు (te) (ēḍcu)
Thai: ร้องไห้ (th) (rɔ́ɔng-hâai), ร่ำไห้ (râm-hâi)
Turkish: ağlamak (tr)
Turkmen: aglamak (tk)
Ugaritic: 𐎁𐎋𐎊 (bky), 𐎄𐎎𐎓 (dmʿ)
Ukrainian: пла́кати impf (plákaty), схли́пувати impf (sxlýpuvaty)
Urdu: رونا‎ (ronā)
Uzbek: yigʻlamoq (uz)
Vietnamese: khóc (vi)
Võro: ikma
Yiddish: וויינען‎ (veynen)

Noun

weep (plural weeps)

A session of crying.
Sometimes you just have to have a good weep.
A sob.
- 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, New York: Doubleday & McClure, published 1899, page v. 62:
  He's coming, too, and we both want to mingle our weeps over the wine-cup[.]

Etymology 2

Imitative of its cry.

Noun

weep (plural weeps)

A lapwing; wipe, especially, a northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus).