- awake (v.)
- a merger of two M.E. verbs: 1. awaken, from O.E. awęcnan (earlier onwęcnan; strong, past tense awoc, pp. awacen) "to awake, arise," from a "on" + wacan "to arise, become awake" (see wake (v.)); and 2. awakien, from O.E. awacian (weak, p.p. awacode), from a "on" + wacian "to be awake, remain awake, watch" (see watch (v.)). Both were originally intrans. only; the trans. sense being expressed by M.E. awecchen (from O.E. aweccan) until later M.E. In Mod.Eng., the tendency has been to restrict the strong past tense and pp. (awoke, awoken) to the original intransitive sense and the weak inflection (awakened) to the transitive, but this never has been complete (see wake; also cf. awaken).
- awake (adj.)
- M.E. awaken, from pp. of O.E. awęcnian (see awaken).