awaken

awake, awaken, wake, waken

1. forms.

Although the history of these words, and in particular of the various forms of past tense and past participle, is highly complex (see the OED entry), in current use awake and wake can be paired as strong verbs having a change of vowel, and awaken and waken can be paired as weak verbs. For the first pair, the past forms are awoke and woke, and the participial forms are awoken and woken. The second pair are regular, with past and participial forms awakened and wakened.

2. meanings.

All four verbs can be used transitively or intransitively, but wake, awaken, and waken are more formal or literary in effect. Wake is the only one to be followed optionally by up. Examples will clarify all these points: (awake) I awoke from a deep sleep / She awoke to the sound of driving rain / She awoke her sleeping child / The accident awoke old fears / (awaken) They awakened at dawn / There was enough noise to awaken the dead / There is a need to awaken motorists to the dangers of speeding in foggy conditions / The episode awakened her interest in impressionist painting / (wake) When do you usually wake in the morning? / I usually wake up at seven / Will you wake me up when it's time to go? / We woke up early this morning / I woke her up when it became light / I was woken by the wind in the night / (waken) They wakened at dawn / We were wakened by the storm / When she fell asleep nothing would waken her.