"weak verb" meaning in English

See weak verb in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: weak verbs [plural]
Etymology: Calque of German schwaches Verb (19th c.). Jacob Grimm called “weak” those classes of conjugation and declension which had lost more distinctions between forms or grammatical categories. The later use of Semitic is a semantic loan from Arabic فِعْل مُعْتَلّ (fiʕl muʕtall). Etymology templates: {{calque|en|de|schwaches Verb}} Calque of German schwaches Verb, {{semantic loan|en|ar|فِعْل مُعْتَلّ|nocap=1}} semantic loan from Arabic فِعْل مُعْتَلّ (fiʕl muʕtall) Head templates: {{en-noun}} weak verb (plural weak verbs), {{tlb|en|grammar|linguistics}} (grammar, linguistics)
  1. (in the Germanic languages) One of a class of verbs which use a dental suffix appended to the stem to indicate the past tense.
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  2. (in the Germanic languages) One of a class of verbs which use a dental suffix appended to the stem to indicate the past tense.
    (by narrowing) A regular verb of this class (thus excluding verbs that do have a dental suffix, but show some formal peculiarity, as in tell > told).
    Sense id: en-weak_verb-en-noun-fBIaf3RN Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Danish translations, Terms with Dutch translations, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Hungarian translations, Terms with Russian translations, Terms with Swedish translations, Terms with West Frisian translations, Grammar, Linguistics Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 36 36 13 15 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 34 34 16 17 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 37 37 12 13 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 34 34 15 16 Disambiguation of Terms with Danish translations: 26 26 23 25 Disambiguation of Terms with Dutch translations: 29 29 20 21 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 27 27 21 24 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 29 29 20 22 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 27 27 21 24 Disambiguation of Terms with Hungarian translations: 28 28 20 23 Disambiguation of Terms with Russian translations: 28 28 22 23 Disambiguation of Terms with Swedish translations: 27 27 22 24 Disambiguation of Terms with West Frisian translations: 26 26 22 26 Disambiguation of Grammar: 27 27 22 24 Disambiguation of Linguistics: 29 29 19 23 Topics: grammar, human-sciences, linguistics, sciences
  3. (in non-Germanic languages) A member of a verb class that is customarily called “weak”, and usually distinguished from another class called “strong”.
    Sense id: en-weak_verb-en-noun-CmI-qele Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Danish translations, Terms with Dutch translations, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Hungarian translations, Terms with Russian translations, Terms with Swedish translations, Terms with West Frisian translations, Grammar, Linguistics Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 36 36 13 15 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 34 34 16 17 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 37 37 12 13 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 34 34 15 16 Disambiguation of Terms with Danish translations: 26 26 23 25 Disambiguation of Terms with Dutch translations: 29 29 20 21 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 27 27 21 24 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 29 29 20 22 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 27 27 21 24 Disambiguation of Terms with Hungarian translations: 28 28 20 23 Disambiguation of Terms with Russian translations: 28 28 22 23 Disambiguation of Terms with Swedish translations: 27 27 22 24 Disambiguation of Terms with West Frisian translations: 26 26 22 26 Disambiguation of Grammar: 27 27 22 24 Disambiguation of Linguistics: 29 29 19 23 Topics: grammar, human-sciences, linguistics, sciences
  4. (in non-Germanic languages) A member of a verb class that is customarily called “weak”, and usually distinguished from another class called “strong”.
    (in the Semitic languages) A verb formed from a root that includes a semivowel or another consonant prone to elision (so-called “weak roots”).
    Coordinate_terms: strong verb
    Sense id: en-weak_verb-en-noun-Dytm2gd9 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Danish translations, Terms with Dutch translations, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Hungarian translations, Terms with Russian translations, Terms with Swedish translations, Terms with West Frisian translations, Grammar, Linguistics Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 36 36 13 15 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 34 34 16 17 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 37 37 12 13 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 34 34 15 16 Disambiguation of Terms with Danish translations: 26 26 23 25 Disambiguation of Terms with Dutch translations: 29 29 20 21 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 27 27 21 24 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 29 29 20 22 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 27 27 21 24 Disambiguation of Terms with Hungarian translations: 28 28 20 23 Disambiguation of Terms with Russian translations: 28 28 22 23 Disambiguation of Terms with Swedish translations: 27 27 22 24 Disambiguation of Terms with West Frisian translations: 26 26 22 26 Disambiguation of Grammar: 27 27 22 24 Disambiguation of Linguistics: 29 29 19 23 Topics: grammar, human-sciences, linguistics, sciences
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Translations (grammar: Germanic verb which uses dental affix to indicate tense): zwak werkwoord (Dutch), säännöllinen verbi (Finnish), svagt verb [neuter] (Swedish), swak tiidwurd [neuter] (West-Frisian) Translations (grammar: member of a "weak" verb class): säännöllinen verbi (Finnish) Translations (grammar: verb with regular conjugation): säännöllinen verbi (Finnish)
Disambiguation of 'grammar: Germanic verb which uses dental affix to indicate tense': 33 33 15 19 Disambiguation of 'grammar: member of a "weak" verb class': 19 19 31 31 Disambiguation of 'grammar: verb with regular conjugation': 26 27 21 25

Inflected forms

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        "in the Semitic languages",
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    {
      "_dis1": "33 33 15 19",
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "lang_code": "nl",
      "sense": "grammar: Germanic verb which uses dental affix to indicate tense",
      "word": "zwak werkwoord"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "33 33 15 19",
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "grammar: Germanic verb which uses dental affix to indicate tense",
      "word": "säännöllinen verbi"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "33 33 15 19",
      "code": "fy",
      "lang": "West-Frisian",
      "lang_code": "fy",
      "sense": "grammar: Germanic verb which uses dental affix to indicate tense",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "swak tiidwurd"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "33 33 15 19",
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "lang_code": "sv",
      "sense": "grammar: Germanic verb which uses dental affix to indicate tense",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "svagt verb"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "19 19 31 31",
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "grammar: member of a \"weak\" verb class",
      "word": "säännöllinen verbi"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "26 27 21 25",
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "grammar: verb with regular conjugation",
      "word": "säännöllinen verbi"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Jacob Grimm"
  ],
  "word": "weak verb"
}
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  ],
  "etymology_text": "Calque of German schwaches Verb (19th c.). Jacob Grimm called “weak” those classes of conjugation and declension which had lost more distinctions between forms or grammatical categories. The later use of Semitic is a semantic loan from Arabic فِعْل مُعْتَلّ (fiʕl muʕtall).",
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        "(in the Germanic languages) One of a class of verbs which use a dental suffix appended to the stem to indicate the past tense."
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        "(in the Germanic languages) One of a class of verbs which use a dental suffix appended to the stem to indicate the past tense.",
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        "A member of a verb class that is customarily called “weak”, and usually distinguished from another class called “strong”.",
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      ],
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        "(in non-Germanic languages) A member of a verb class that is customarily called “weak”, and usually distinguished from another class called “strong”.",
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "lang_code": "nl",
      "sense": "grammar: Germanic verb which uses dental affix to indicate tense",
      "word": "zwak werkwoord"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "grammar: Germanic verb which uses dental affix to indicate tense",
      "word": "säännöllinen verbi"
    },
    {
      "code": "fy",
      "lang": "West-Frisian",
      "lang_code": "fy",
      "sense": "grammar: Germanic verb which uses dental affix to indicate tense",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "swak tiidwurd"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "lang_code": "sv",
      "sense": "grammar: Germanic verb which uses dental affix to indicate tense",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "svagt verb"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "grammar: member of a \"weak\" verb class",
      "word": "säännöllinen verbi"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "grammar: verb with regular conjugation",
      "word": "säännöllinen verbi"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Jacob Grimm"
  ],
  "word": "weak verb"
}

Download raw JSONL data for weak verb meaning in English (7.1kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-06-07 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-06-01 using wiktextract (e79dea5 and 7f4db16). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.