[go: up one dir, main page]
Advertisement

Origin and history of fawn

fawn(n.)

"young deer," mid-14c., from Anglo-French (late 13c.), Old French (12c.) faon, feon "young animal," especially "young deer," from Vulgar Latin *fetonem (nominative *feto), from Latin fetus "a bringing forth; an offspring" (from suffixed form of PIE root *dhe(i)- "to suck"). It was used of the young of any animal as recently as King James I's private translation of the Psalms, but the sense has been mainly of deer since 15c. Color use is by 1881.

fawn(v.)

Middle English faunen, from Old English fagnian "rejoice, be glad, exult, applaud," from fægen "glad" (see fain); used in Middle English to refer to expressions of delight, especially a dog wagging its tail (early 14c.), hence "court favor, grovel, act slavishly" (early 15c.). Related: Fawned; fawning.

also from early 14c.

Entries linking to fawn

fain(adj.)

Old English fægen, fagen "glad, cheerful, happy, joyful, rejoicing," from a common Germanic root (cognates: Old Saxon fagan, Old Norse feginn "glad," Old High German faginon, Gothic faginon "to rejoice"), perhaps from PIE *pek- (1) "to make pretty."

Often it means "glad" in a relative sense, "content to accept when something better is unobtainable." As an adverb, from c. 1200. Related: Fainly. Compare fawn (v.). Middle English also had unfain "joyless, displeased, uncooperative" (c. 1300).

fawning(adj.)

"cringing, servile," mid-14c., present-participle adjective from fawn (v.). Related: Fawningly.

Advertisement

More to explore

lawn
"turf, stretch of grass," 1540s, laune "glade, open space in a forest or between woods," from Middle English launde (c. 1300), from Old French lande "heath, moor, barren land; clearing" (12c.), from Gaulish (compare Breton lann "heath"), or from a cognate Germanic word, from Prot
crawl
c. 1200, creulen, "to move slowly by drawing the body across the ground," from a Scandinavian source, perhaps Old Norse krafla "to claw (one's way)," or Danish kravle, from the same root as crab (n.1). If there was an Old English *craflian, it has not been recorded. Meaning "adva
cringe
1570s, "to bend or crouch, especially with servility or fear," variant of crenge, crenche "to bend" (c. 1200), from causative of Old English cringan "yield, give way, fall (in battle); become bent," from Proto-Germanic *krank- "bend, curl up" (source also of Old Norse kringr, Dut
Fauvist
French fauve (12c.) in Old French meant "fawn-colored horse, dark-colored thing, dull," and is from Frankish *falw- or some...
hellebore
Perhaps literally "plant eaten by fawns," from Greek ellos/hellos "fawn" (from PIE *elno-, extended form of *el- (2) "red...
Ossianic
Gaelic bard Ossian," 1786, from Ossian, an Anglicization of Oisin, a name meaning literally "little fawn."...
adulation
nominative adulatio) "a fawning; flattery, cringing courtesy," noun of action from past-participle stem of adulari "to flatter, fawn...
truckle
"small wheel or roller," late 14c., from Anglo-French trocle, from Latin trochlea "a small wheel, sheaf of a pulley," from Greek trokhileia "a system of pulleys," from trokhos "wheel," from trekhein "to run," from PIE root *dhregh- "to run" (source also of Old Irish droch "wheel,
dun
"to insist on payment of debt," 1620s, also as a noun, "agent employed to collect debts," of uncertain origin, perhaps related to Middle English dunnen "to sound, resound, make a din" (c. 1200, dialectal variant of din), or shortened from dunkirk (c. 1600) "privateer," a private
deer
Old English deor "wild animal, beast, any wild quadruped," in early Middle English also used of ants and fish, from Proto-Germanic *deuzam, the general Germanic word for "animal" (as opposed to man), but often restricted to "wild animal" (source also of Old Frisian diar, Dutch di

Share fawn

Advertisement
Trending
Dictionary entries near fawn
Advertisement