wean
v.v. to stop giving a baby milk and start giving them solid food. It can also mean to stop using something you have been used to, like a drug or a habit.
v. to transition a child from breast milk or formula to solid food; by extension, to gradually reduce or eliminate a dependency on a substance or habit. Often used in the passive voice.
The doctor said it is time to wean the baby onto solid food.
The patient is being weaned off the ventilator as his lung function improves over the next few days.
The central bank must carefully wean the economy off its reliance on cheap credit before the interest rate hike begins to take full effect in the housing market.
From Middle English wenen, from Old English wenian (“to accustom; habituate; train; prepare; make fit”), from Proto-West Germanic wannjan, from Proto-Germanic wanjaną (“to make wont; accustom”), from Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- (“to strive for; wish; love”). Cognate with Dutch wennen, German gewöhnen, Danish vænne, Swedish vänja, Icelandic venja. Related via PIE to wone, wont, and wonder, and perhaps win.
Borrowed from Scots wean (literally “wee one”).