gnaw

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English

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Etymology

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From Middle English gnawen, gnaȝen, from Old English gnagan, from Proto-Germanic *gnaganą. Cognate with Dutch knagen, German nagen, Norwegian Bokmål gnage, Norwegian Nynorsk gnaga, Swedish gnaga. Probably from Proto-Indo-European *gʰnēgʰ- (to gnaw, scratch).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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gnaw (third-person singular simple present gnaws, present participle gnawing, simple past gnawed or (dialectal) gnew, past participle gnawed or (archaic) gnawn)

  1. (transitive, intransitive) To bite something persistently, especially something tough.
    The dog gnawed the bone until it broke in two.
  2. (intransitive) To produce excessive anxiety or worry.
    Her comment gnawed at me all day and I couldn't think about anything else.
  3. To corrode; to fret away; to waste.
    • 1637, Thomas Heywood, The Royall King, and the Loyall Subject. [], London: [] Nich[olas] and John Okes, for James Becket, [], →OCLC, Act III, signature E4, verso:
      VVots thou vvho's returnd, / The unthrift Bonvile, ragged as a ſcarre-crovv / The VVarres have gnavv'd his garments to the skinne: []

Derived terms

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Translations

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Noun

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gnaw (plural gnaws)

  1. the act of gnawing
    have a gnaw of a bone

Anagrams

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Middle Welsh

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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gnaw

  1. Soft mutation of knaw.

Mutation

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Middle Welsh mutation
Radical Soft Nasal Aspirate
knaw gnaw knaw / chnaw
pronounced with /ŋ̊-/
chnaw
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.