wake up

See also: wakeup and wake-up

English

Etymology

From wake + up.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˌweɪk ˈʌp/, [ˌweɪˈkʌp]

  • Audio (Received Pronunciation):

    (file)

  • Audio (Received Pronunciation):

    (file)

Verb

wake up (third-person singular simple present wakes up, present participle waking up, simple past woke up or waked up, past participle woken up or waked up)

1. (intransitive) To stop sleeping; to awake.
   • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

     I made a speaking trumpet of my hands and commenced to whoop “Ahoy!” and “Hello!” at the top of my lungs. […] The Colonel woke up, and, after asking what in brimstone was the matter, opened his mouth and roared “Hi!” and “Hello!” like the bull of Bashan.

   • 1967, John Lennon/Paul McCartney, A Day in the Life:

     "Woke up, fell out of bed, dragged a comb across my head"

   • 2020, “Birds of Paradise, Birds of Prey”, performed by The Acacia Strain:

     I fell asleep in God's arms and woke up in hell

2. (transitive) To awaken somebody.

   Wake your brother up; it's time for school.

   • 1935, George Goodchild, chapter 3, in Death on the Centre Court:

     It had been his intention to go to Wimbledon, but as he himself said: “Why be blooming well frizzled when you can hear all the results over the wireless. […] You stand by, Janet, and wake me up if they do any of that running commentary stuff.”

3. (intransitive) To become more aware of a real-life situation; to concentrate on the matter in hand.

   Some businesses were slow to wake up to the importance of the Internet.

   That's the third time you've made the same mistake. Wake up!

   • 2023 May 31, “Network News: Action suspended on Elizabeth line”, in RAIL, number 984, page 21:

     "Elizabeth line staff are multi-skilled and operate the world's only fully digital railway, but many earn significantly less than other TfL staff in similar roles.That is clearly not an acceptable or sustainable position, and it looks as though the company is waking up to the fact."

Derived terms

• wake up and die right
• wake up and smell the ashes
• wake up and smell the coffee
• wake up and smell the roses
• wake-up call
• wake up dead
• wakeup (noun)
• wake-up (noun)
• wake up one day
• wake up on the wrong side of bed

 

Translations

to (become) awake

• Afrikaans: wakker word
• Albanian: zgjoj (sq)
• Arabic: صَحَا (ar) (ṣaḥā), اِسْتَيْقَظَ (ar) (istayqaẓa), نَهَضَ مِنَ النَّوْمِ (nahaḍa mina n-nawmi) (from sleep)

  Moroccan Arabic: فاق (fāq)

  South Levantine Arabic: صِحي (ṣíḥi), فاق (fāʔ), وعي (wíʕi)

• Armenian: զարթնել (hy) (zartʻnel), արթնանալ (hy) (artʻnanal)
• Azerbaijani: oyanmaq (az), ayılmaq (az), yuxudan durmaq
• Bashkir: уяныу (uyanıw)
• Basque: esnatu (eu), iratzarri
• Belarusian: абуджа́цца impf (abudžácca), абудзі́цца pf (abudzícca), прачына́цца impf (pračynácca), прачну́цца pf (pračnúcca)
• Bengali: জাগা (bn) (jaga)
• Bhojpuri: जगा जा (jagā jā)
• Bulgarian: събу́ждам се (bg) impf (sǎbúždam se)
• Burmese: နိုး (my) (nui:)
• Catalan: despertar-se (ca)
• Cherokee: ᎠᏰᎦ (ayega)
• Chickasaw: okcha
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 醒 (zh) (xǐng), 醒來／醒来 (zh) (xǐnglái)

• Czech: budit se (cs) impf, vzbudit se (cs) pf, probudit se (cs) pf
• Dalmatian: desmissur
• Danish: vågn op, vågne (da)
• Dutch: wakker worden (nl), ontwaken (nl)
• Esperanto: vekiĝi
• Estonian: ärkama
• Faroese: vakna
• Finnish: herätä (fi)
• French: se réveiller (fr)
• Galician: espertar (gl)
• Georgian: გაღვიძება (gaɣviʒeba)
• German: aufwachen (de), erwachen (de), wach werden
• Greek: ξυπνάω (el) (xypnáo)
• Guaraní: please add this translation if you can
• Hebrew: התעורר (he) (hit'orér)
• Hindi: जागना (hi) (jāgnā)
• Hungarian: felébred (hu)
• Icelandic: vakna (is)
• Indonesian: bangun (id), membangunkan (id)
• Ingrian: havaita
• Interlingua: eveliar se
• Irish: dúisigh, múscail
• Italian: svegliarsi (it)
• Japanese: 目覚める (ja) (めざめる, mezameru), 目を覚ます (めをさます, me o samasu), 覚める (ja) (さめる, sameru), 起きる (ja) (おきる, okiru)
• Kazakh: ояну (oänu)
• Khmer: តើន (km) (taən), ភ្ញាក់ (km) (phñĕək)
• Konkani: जागचे (jāgce)
• Korean: 눈뜨다 (ko) (nuntteuda), 일어나다 (ko) (ireonada)
• Kumyk: уянмакъ (uyanmaq)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ھەڵسان (hellsan)

• Kyrgyz: ойгонуу (ky) (oygonuu)
• Lao: ຊວດ (sūat), ຊວາດ (suāt), ຕື່ນ (tư̄n)
• Latin: expergiscor, evigilo, exsuscito
• Latvian: pamosties, atmosties
• Lingala: kolamuka
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Low German:

  German Low German: opwaken, waak warrn

• Luxembourgish: erwächen, waakreg ginn
• Macedonian: се буди impf (se budi)
• Malay: bangun
• Malayalam: ഉണരുക (ml) (uṇaruka), എഴുന്നേൽക്കുക (ml) (eḻunnēlkkuka) (colloquial)
• Manchu: ᡤᡝᡨᡝᠮᠪᡳ (getembi)
• Mbyá Guaraní: vy
• Mongolian: сэрэх (mn) (serex)
• Navajo: chʼínádzííd
• Neapolitan: se scetà
• Nepali: उठ्नु (uṭhnu), जाग्नु (jāgnu)
• Norwegian: våkne (no)

  Norwegian Bokmål: stå opp (no)

  Nynorsk: vakna

• Occitan: se revelhar, se desrevelhar
• Old English: onwæcnan
• Persian: بیدار شدن (fa) (bidâr šodan)
• Polish: obudzić się (pl) pf
• Portuguese: acordar (pt), despertar (pt)
• Punjabi: ਜਾਗਣਾ (jāgṇā)
• Romanian: se trezi (ro), se scula (ro), se deștepta (ro)
• Russian: просыпа́ться (ru) impf (prosypátʹsja), просну́ться (ru) pf (prosnútʹsja), пробужда́ться (ru) impf (probuždátʹsja), пробуди́ться (ru) pf (probudítʹsja)
• Sanskrit: बुध्यते (sa) (budhyate), जागर्ति (sa) (jāgarti)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: пробуђивати се impf, пробудити се pf

  Roman: probuđivati se (sh) impf, probuditi se (sh) pf

• Slovak: budiť sa impf, vzbudiť sa pf, prebudiť sa pf
• Slovene: zbujati se impf, zbuditi se (sl) pf
• Spanish: despertarse (es), recordar (es)
• Swedish: vakna (sv)
• Tagalog: gising (tl)
• Tajik: бедор шудан (bedor šudan)
• Tamil: விழி (ta) (viḻi)
• Telugu: విదితమగు (viditamagu)
• Thai: ตื่น (th) (dtʉ̀ʉn), ตื่นนอน (dtʉ̀ʉn-nɔɔn)
• Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: uyanmak (tr)
• Turkmen: oýanmak
• Ukrainian: прокида́тися impf (prokydátysja), проки́нутися pf (prokýnutysja), пробу́джуватися impf (probúdžuvatysja), пробуди́тися pf (probudýtysja), просипа́тися impf (prosypátysja), просну́тися pf (prosnútysja)
• Urdu: جاگنا (jāgnā)
• Uzbek: uygʻotmoq (uz)
• Vietnamese: thức dậy (vi), dậy lên, dậy (vi), thức (vi)
• White Hmong: please add this translation if you can
• Yiddish: אויפֿוועקן (oyfvekn)
• Yucatec Maya: ajal
• Zhuang: dauqndiu, ndiu, singj

to awaken (someone else)

• Afrikaans: wakker maak, wek
• Arabic: أَيْقَظَ (ʔayqaẓa)

  Hijazi Arabic: صَحّى (ṣaḥḥā), قَوّم (gawwam)

  Moroccan Arabic: فيق (fayyaq)

  South Levantine Arabic: صحّى (ṣaḥḥa), فيّق (fáyyaʔ), وَعّى (wáʕʕa)

• Armenian: զարթնեցնել (hy) (zartʻnecʻnel), արթնացնել (artʻnacʻnel)
• Aromanian: dishteptu
• Azerbaijani: durğuzmaq, oyatmaq (az), oyandırmaq
• Bashkir: уятыу (uyatıw)
• Basque: esnatu (eu)
• Belarusian: будзі́ць impf (budzícʹ), разбу́джваць impf (razbúdžvacʹ), разбудзі́ць pf (razbudzícʹ), абудзі́ць pf (abudzícʹ)
• Bengali: জাগানো (bn) (jaganō)
• Bulgarian: пробу́ждам (bg) impf (probúždam), пробу́дя pf (probúdja), бу́дя (bg) impf (búdja)
• Catalan: despertar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 喚醒／唤醒 (zh) (huànxǐng), 叫醒 (zh) (jiàoxǐng)

• Czech: budit (cs) pf, vzbudit (cs) pf, probudit (cs) pf
• Danish: vække (da)
• Dutch: wakker maken, wekken (nl)
• Esperanto: veki
• Estonian: äratama
• Faroese: vakja
• Finnish: herättää (fi)
• French: réveiller (fr)
• Galician: espertar (gl)
• Georgian: გააღვიძებს (gaaɣviʒebs)
• German: aufwecken (de), wecken (de), wach machen
• Hebrew: העיר (he) (he'ír)
• Hindi: जगाना (hi) (jagānā)
• Hungarian: felébreszt (hu), felkelt (hu)
• Icelandic: vekja (is)
• Indonesian: bangunkan (id)
• Ingrian: nostaa, ylentää
• Interlingua: eveliar
• Irish: dúisigh
• Italian: svegliare (it)
• Japanese: 目覚めさせる (ja) (めざめさせる, mezamesaseru), 起こす (ja) (おこす, okosu)
• Khmer: ដាស់ (km) (dah)
• Korean: 깨우다 (ko) (kkae'uda)
• Latin: expergō, excitō, expergiscor (subject and object reversed)
• Latvian: pamodināt, atmodināt
• Low German:

  German Low German: opwecken, oppuren, waak maken

• Luxembourgish: erwächen
• Macedonian: буди impf (budi), разбуди pf (razbudi)
• Malayalam: ഉണർത്തുക (ml) (uṇaṟttuka), എഴുന്നേൽപ്പിക്കുക (eḻunnēlppikkuka) (colloquial)
• Maore Comorian: umidza
• Nepali: उठाउनु (uṭhāunu), जगाउनु (jagāunu)
• Ngazidja Comorian: udjusa
• Norwegian:

  Nynorsk: vekkja

• Occitan: despertar, revelhar (oc), desvelhar
• Old English: āweċċan
• Ottoman Turkish: ایقاظ ایتمك (ikâz etmek)
• Polish: budzić (pl) impf, obudzić (pl) pf
• Portuguese: acordar (pt), despertar (pt)
• Romanian: deștepta (ro), scula (ro), trezi (ro)
• Russian: буди́ть (ru) impf (budítʹ), разбуди́ть (ru) pf (razbudítʹ), пробужда́ть (ru) impf (probuždátʹ), пробуди́ть (ru) pf (probudítʹ)
• Sanskrit: बोधयति (bodhayati)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: пробуђи́вати impf, пробу́дити pf

  Roman: probuđívati (sh) impf, probúditi (sh) pf

• Slovak: budiť impf, vzbudiť pf, prebudiť pf
• Slovene: prebujati impf, prebuditi pf
• Spanish: despertar (es)
• Swedish: väcka (sv)
• Thai: ปลุก (th) (bplùk)
• Turkish: uyandırmak (tr)
• Ukrainian: буди́ти (uk) impf (budýty), пробу́джувати impf (probúdžuvaty), розбу́джувати impf (rozbúdžuvaty), пробуди́ти pf (probudýty), розбуди́ти pf (rozbudýty)
• Vietnamese: đánh thức (vi)

to become more aware of a real-life situation.

• Basque: esnatu (eu)
• Dutch: wakker worden (nl), ontwaken (nl)
• Finnish: herätä (fi)
• Galician: espelir (gl), decatar
• Georgian: გამოიღვიძებს (gamoiɣviʒebs)
• German: aufwachen (de), wach werden, sich bewusst werden
• Hebrew: התעורר (he) (hit'orér)
• Hungarian: ráébred (hu), észbe kap, ráeszmél (hu), felfigyel (hu)
• Low German:

  German Low German: waak warrn, bewüsst warrn

• Portuguese: despertar (pt)
• Romanian: trezi (ro)
• Spanish: despertar (es), espabilar (es)

See also

• dawn on someone
• see daylight