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weak

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weak

  • /wi(ː)k/
  • [wɪik]

Sounds like week · Rhymes with -iːk

Where it comes from

From Middle English waik, wayk, wayke, weik, weyk, borrowed from Old Norse veikr (“weak”), from Proto-Germanic *waikwaz (“weak, yielded, pliant, bendsome”), from *wīkwaną (“to cease, fold, yield; to retreat”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyg- (“to bend, turn, wind”), from *weh₁y- (“to plait, twist, weave, wind; to cover, enclose, wrap”).

Cognates

Cognate with Old English wāc (“bendsome, weak”), Saterland Frisian wook (“soft, gentle, tender”), West Frisian weak (“soft”), Dutch week (“soft, weak”), German weich (“soft, weak”), Luxembourgish weech (“weak”), Yiddish ווייך (veykh, “soft”), Danish veg (“weak”), Faroese and Icelandic veikur (“weak”), Norwegian Bokmål veik, vek (“weak; pliant”), Norwegian Nynorsk veik (“weak”), Swedish vek (“weak, pliant”), Estonian vaik, vaikne (“quiet”), Finnish vaieta (“to fall silent; to be silent; to keep silent; to suppress by not discussing”), Ingrian vaiketa (“quiet down”); also Cornish gwigh (“winkles”), Irish faocha, faochóg (“periwinkle”), Latin vicis (“change; time; season; succession; lot; place, room, stead”), vieo (“to bend”), Ancient Greek οἴγω (oígō, “to open”), Albanian vig (“bier, litter, stretcher”), Lithuanian vyti (“to twist, wind”), Belarusian віць (vicʹ, “to twist, weave”), Bulgarian ви́я (víja, “to bend, twist; to roam; to swirl”), Czech vít (“to weave, wind; to wrap”), Polish and Upper Sorbian wić (“to plait, weave; to wriggle, writhe”), Russian вить (vitʹ, “to wind; to twist, weave”), Serbo-Croatian ви̏ти, vȉti (“to twist”), Slovene viti (“to twist”), Ukrainian ви́ти (výty, “to twist, wind; to plait; to build a nest; to curl”), Northern Kurdish avêtin, avitin, avîtin, havêtin, havîtin (“to cast, throw”), Persian آویختن (âvixtan, “to hang, suspend”), بیختن (bēxtan / bixtan, “to sift”), Sanskrit वेग (vega, “speed, impetus; stream; agitation; impetuosity; strength; haste; the flight of an arrow; love; delight; expulsion; semen; attack; constipation”).

Related to Old English wīcan (“to yield”). Related to week and wick.

The grammar sense is a calque of German schwach.

adjective weaker · weakest · weake

  1. Lacking in force (usually strength) or ability. The child was too weak to move the boulder.

    Similar: feeble, frail, powerless, vincible, assailable, vulnerable

  2. Unable to sustain a great weight, pressure, or strain. a weak timber; a weak rope
  3. Limp, soft.
  4. Unable to withstand temptation, urgency, persuasion, etc.; easily impressed, moved, or overcome; accessible; vulnerable. weak resolutions; weak virtue
  5. often, with for Having a strong, irrepressible emotional love for someone or (less often) something; sentimentally affected by such love. 'Cause sugar pie, honey bunch You know that I'm weak for you Can't help myself I love you and nobody else
  6. Dilute, lacking in taste or potency. That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone e

    Similar: dilute, watery

  7. of verbs Regular in inflection, lacking vowel changes and having a past tense marked by /-d-/, /-t-/, or /-ð-/. The verb to walk is weak because it has a past tense of walked and all forms are inflected by adding the typical suffix (ie is regular) to the stem walk- (ie has no vowel changes).

    Opposite: strong

  8. of nouns Showing less distinct grammatical endings.

    Opposite: strong

  9. of adjectives Definite in meaning, often used with a definite article or similar word.

    Opposite: strong

  10. Related to, containing, or being a consonant which is prone to disappearing in some inflections, in most applicable languages including (but not limited to) w and y. In some Semitic languages such as Akkadian, some or all gutturals are weak and often disappear, but in others such as Arabic and Ugaritic, they are strong and never disappear.

    Opposite: strong

  11. Related to, being, or containing the lenis consonant gradation, which resulted from historically closed syllables. The Finnish verb kääntää (“to translate”) inflects to the singular imperative as käännä, showing the weak gradation nt > nn because it historically ended in a consonant which closed the syllable.

    Opposite: strong

  12. Indo European studies, especially, of stems or inflected roots Of a form in which the accent tends to shift forwards (to the right, in transcription) or did so ancestrally in Proto-Indo-European, relative to the strong stem (which has the leftmost accent allowed). Paradigmatic slots in which the accent and correlating e-grade are positioned further to the left of the word are traditionally termed strong, those with accent and e-grade further to the right, are called weak. In all nouns and verbs which show these alternations, the strong and the weak forms are

    Opposite: strong

  13. Indo European studies, especially, of nouns and adjectives, of stems or inflected roots In a grammatical case other than nominative, accusative, vocative or sometimes locative singular.

    Opposite: strong

  14. Indo European studies, especially, of verbs, of stems or inflected roots In a conjugation other than singular active forms (regardless of person, tense etc.). All middle forms of Indo-European verbs are traditionally weak. Middle-only verbs can still be compared to hypothetical strong stems, such as weak *ǵn̥h₁-yé- (e.g. *ǵn̥h₁yéto, “(he/she/it) was born”) versus strong *ǵénh₁-ye-.

    Opposite: strong

  15. Lenis, pronounced with less force or less markedness.
  16. That does not ionize completely into anions and cations in a solution. a weak acid
  17. One of the four fundamental forces associated with nuclear decay.
  18. slang Bad or uncool. This place is weak.
  19. Having a narrow range of logical consequences; narrowly applicable. (Often contrasted with a strong statement which implies it.)
  20. Resulting from, or indicating, lack of judgment, discernment, or firmness; unwise; hence, foolish. If evil thence ensue, / She first his weak indulgence will accuse.
  21. Not having power to convince; not supported by force of reason or truth; unsustained. The prosecution advanced a weak case.
  22. Lacking in vigour or expression. a weak sentence; a weak style
  23. Not prevalent or effective, or not felt to be prevalent; not potent; feeble. Thy threats have no more strength than her weak prayers.
  24. Tending towards lower prices. a weak market; wheat is weak at present
  25. Lacking contrast. a weak negative

Similar: anemic, breakable, broken-down, damaged, debilitated, decrepit, delicate, dickless, effete, enervated, enfeebled, exhausted, faint, flimsy, fragile, harmed, hurt, impaired, impotent, infirm, injured, languid, low, prostrated, prostrate, puny, raddled, resistless, sapped, slightsoft · Opposite: healthy, powerful, robust, strong, invincible, potent, able-bodied, athletic, beefy, brawny, capable, competent, durable, firm, fit, fortified, hale, hardened, hardy, mighty, muscular, puissant, rugged, sinewy, sound, stalwart, stout, strapping, strengthened, sturdy

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: impotent, feeble, wishy-washy, namby-pamby, wimpy, wimpish, nerveless, spineless, faint, asthenic, frail, enervated, powerless, infirm, shoddy, puny

adjective

Similar: anemic, breakable, broken-down, damaged, debilitated, decrepit, delicate, dickless, effete, enervated, enfeebled, exhausted, faint, flimsy, fragile, harmed, hurt, impaired, impotent, infirm, injured, languid, low, prostrated, prostrate, puny, raddled, resistless, sapped, slightsoft · Opposite: healthy, powerful, robust, strong, invincible, potent, able-bodied, athletic, beefy, brawny, capable, competent, durable, firm, fit, fortified, hale, hardened, hardy, mighty, muscular, puissant, rugged, sinewy, sound, stalwart, stout, strapping, strengthened, sturdy

Translations

Every language

adj lacking in force or ability

Españoldébil, feble, flaco, flojo, pilishte, pilishne
한국어약하다 yakhada
日本語弱い yowai
中文弱 ruò, 微弱 wēiruò, 軟弱 /软弱 ruǎnruò
हिन्दीदुर्बल durbal, निर्बल nirbal, कमज़ोर kamzor, अशक्त aśakt
Kiswahilidhaifu
Portuguêsfraco, débil, frouxo
Françaisfaible, débile
Deutschschwach
Italianodebole
Ελληνικάαδύναμος adýnamos
Românăslab, debil, lânced
Русскийсла́бый slábyj
Tiếng Việtyếu
العربيةضَعِيف ḍaʕīf
עבריתחַלָּשׁ khalásh

adj dilute, lacking in taste or potency

Españolflojo
日本語薄い usui
Portuguêsfraco
Deutschschwach
Русскийсла́бый slábyj
العربيةضَعِيف ḍaʕīf

adj grammar: regular in inflection

日本語弱変化の jakuhenka no
Portuguêsfraco
Deutschschwach
Ελληνικάαδύνατος adýnatos
Русскийсла́бый slábyj, пра́вильный právilʹnyj

adj physics: one of the four fundamental forces associated with nuclear decay

Españoldébil
日本語弱い yowai
Русскийсла́бый slábyj

adj slang: bad or uncool

日本語ださい dasai
Deutschout, unschön, häßlich, uninteressant
Русскийсла́бый slábyj, отстой otstoj

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MLA

"weak." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/weak. Accessed 5 Nov. 2026.

APA

weak. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/weak

Chicago

"weak." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 5, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/weak.

BibTeX
@misc{weak_2026,
  title = {weak},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/weak},
  urldate = {2026-11-05}
}