astonish

English

Etymology

From an alteration (due to words ending in -ish: abolish, banish, cherish, establish, furnish, etc.) of earlier astony, astone, aston, astun (“to astonish, confound, stun”), from Middle English astonien, astunien, astonen, astunen, astounen (“to astound, stun, astonish”), of uncertain origin, possibly from Old English *āstunian, from ā- (perfective prefix) + stunian (“to make a loud sound, crash, resound, roar, bang, dash, impinge, knock, confound, astonish, stupefy”), from Proto-Germanic *stunōną (“to sound, crash, bang, groan”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ten-, *(s)ton- (“to thunder, roar, groan”), equivalent to a- +‎ stun. Compare German erstaunen (“to astonish, amaze”). Another possible source, or else influence, is Old French estoner, estuner, estonuer, estonner (“to stun”), either from an assumed Vulgar Latin *extonare (“to strike with thunder, daze, stupefy, stun”) from Late Latin *extono (ex +‎ tono), or from Old Frankish *stunen (“to stun”), related to Middle High German stunen (“to knock, strike, stun”) and then, if not the source, still a cognate of the word astonish.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈstɒnɪʃ/
• IPA^(key): /əˈstɑnɪʃ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: as‧ton‧ish

Verb

1. To surprise greatly.
   • 1813, Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice:

     "I have no right to give my opinion," said Wickham, "as to his being agreeable or otherwise. I am not qualified to form one. I have known him too long and too well to be a fair judge. It is impossible for me to be impartial. But I believe your opinion of him would in general astonish — and perhaps you would not express it quite so strongly anywhere else. Here you are in your own family."

Synonyms

• (to surprise): astound, flabbergast, surprise

Derived terms

Derived terms

• astonished
• astonishedly

• astonishing
• astonishment

Translations

to surprise, astound, flabbergast

• Arabic: أَذْهَلَ (ʔaḏhala)
• Basque: estonatu (eu)
• Bulgarian: учудвам (bg) (učudvam), удивлявам (bg) (udivljavam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 震驚／震惊 (zh) (zhènjīng), 震惊 (zh) (zhènjīng)

• Czech: ohromit (cs)
• Danish: forbavse
• Dutch: verbazen (nl)
• Esperanto: mirigi
• Finnish: hämmästyttää (fi), ällistää
• French: étonner (fr), surprendre (fr)
• Galician: abraiar (gl), anocer, anucir, atordoar
• German: erstaunen (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek: εκπλήσσω (el) (ekplísso), σοκάρω (el) (sokáro), αφήνω άναυδο (afíno ánavdo), αποσβολώνω (el) (aposvolóno)

  Ancient Greek: καταπλήσσω (kataplḗssō)

• Ido: astonar (io), surprizegar (io)
• Interlingue: ,
• Italian: sorprendere (it), stupire (it)
• Japanese: 驚かす (ja) (おどろかす, odorokasu)
• Maori: whakaohomauri, whakaohorere
• Norman: êtonner
• Portuguese: surpreender (pt), pasmar (pt)
• Russian: удивля́ть (ru) impf (udivljátʹ), удиви́ть (ru) pf (udivítʹ), изумля́ть (ru) impf (izumljátʹ), изуми́ть (ru) pf (izumítʹ)
• Spanish: asombrar (es), sorprender (es), pasmar (es)
• Swedish: förvåna (sv), förbluffa (sv)
• Yiddish: פאַרגאַפן (fargafn)