Awoken

/əˈwoʊkən/ verb/adjective

Definition

Past participle of 'awake'—to have woken up from sleep, or to have become aware or conscious of something.

Etymology

From Old English 'awacnan' (to wake up), combining 'a-' (intensive prefix) and 'wacnan' (to wake). This irregular verb has three forms (awake/awoke/awoken) showing its ancient Germanic roots.

Kelly Says

English has multiple acceptable past participles for 'awake'—you can say 'I woke up,' 'I awoke,' or 'I have awoken,' and linguists still debate which is 'most correct.' It's one of those wonderful irregular verbs that shows how old and naturally evolved English is!

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