Awakened

How to spell awakened

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce awakened

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does awakened mean?

1. verbPast tense of awaken: stopped sleeping, or caused someone to stop sleeping.
2. verbPast tense of awaken: stirred an emotion, interest, or awareness in someone.

Awakened in a sentence

• The rumble of thunder awakened the whole household before dawn.

• The documentary awakened a deep interest in marine biology for her.

• She awakened to the smell of fresh coffee drifting upstairs.

• The unexpected promotion awakened his ambition at work.

Where does awakened come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word descends from Old English awæcnan, formed from the intensive prefix a- joined to the verb wæcnan, meaning 'to come to life' or 'to rise into wakefulness'. The underlying root is the same one that gives us 'wake' and 'watch', tracing back to a Germanic source meaning 'to be lively or alert'. Over the centuries the verb 'awaken' settled alongside the plainer 'wake' and 'waken', keeping the older -en ending that once marked many English verbs. The past form 'awakened' simply adds the regular -ed, and the spelling trap lives in that unstressed middle, since the 'en' before 'ed' is easy to drop or slur in writing. A figurative sense, rousing someone's feelings, interest, or awareness, grew naturally out of the literal sense of stirring a sleeper, and both meanings remain common today.

How the word is built

• a- (Old English intensive prefix)
• wac/wake (root: to become awake)
• -en (verb-forming suffix)
• -ed (past tense/participle)