awe

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See also: Awe

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English aw, awe, agh, awȝe, borrowed from Old Norse agi, from Proto-Germanic *agaz (“terror, dread”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂egʰ- (“to be upset, afraid”). Displaced native Middle English eye, eyȝe, ayȝe, eȝȝe, from Old English ege, æge (“fear, terror, dread”), from the same Proto-Germanic root.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

awe (usually uncountable, plural awes)

  1. A feeling of fear and reverence.
    • 2012 March-April, Anna Lena Phillips, “Sneaky Silk Moths”, in American Scientist‎[1], volume 100, number 2, page 172:
      Last spring, the periodical cicadas emerged across eastern North America. Their vast numbers and short above-ground life spans inspired awe and irritation in humans—and made for good meals for birds and small mammals.
  2. A feeling of amazement.
    • 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot Chapter IV
      For several minutes no one spoke; I think they must each have been as overcome by awe as was I. All about us was a flora and fauna as strange and wonderful to us as might have been those upon a distant planet had we suddenly been miraculously transported through ether to an unknown world.
  3. (archaic) Power to inspire awe.

Derived terms[edit]

terms derived from awe (noun)

Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

awe (third-person singular simple present awes, present participle awing or aweing, simple past and past participle awed)

  1. (transitive) To inspire fear and reverence in.
    • 1922, Michael Arlen, “1/1/3”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days‎[2]:
      That large room had always awed Ivor: even as a child he had never wanted to play in it, for all that it was so limitless, the parquet floor so vast and shiny and unencumbered, the windows so wide and light with the fairy expanse of Kensington Gardens.
  2. (transitive) To control by inspiring dread.

Synonyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Mapudungun[edit]

Adverb[edit]

awe (Raguileo spelling)

  1. quickly, promptly.
  2. soon

Synonyms[edit]

References[edit]

  • Wixaleyiñ: Mapucezugun-wigkazugun pici hemvlcijka (Wixaleyiñ: Small Mapudungun-Spanish dictionary), Beretta, Marta; Cañumil, Dario; Cañumil, Tulio, 2008.

Middle English[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Borrowed from Old Norse agi, from Proto-Germanic *agaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂égʰos. Doublet of eye.

Alternative forms[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

awe (uncountable)

  1. awe, wonder, reverence
  2. fear, horror
  3. that which elicits or incites horror; something horrifying
Related terms[edit]
Descendants[edit]
  • English: awe
  • Scots: awe, aw

References[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

Adverb[edit]

awe

  1. Alternative form of away

Etymology 3[edit]

Noun[edit]

awe

  1. Alternative form of ewe

Papiamentu[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

  • awé (alternative spelling)

Etymology[edit]

From Portuguese hoje and Spanish hoy and Kabuverdianu ochi.

Pronoun[edit]

awe

  1. today

Swahili[edit]

Verb[edit]

awe

  1. inflection of -wa:
    1. third-person singular subjunctive affirmative
    2. m-wa class subject inflected singular subjunctive affirmative

Tabaru[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

awe

  1. a thread

References[edit]

  • Edward A. Kotynski (1988), “Tabaru phonology and morphology”, in Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session, volume 32, Summer Institute of Linguistics

Western Arrernte[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Interjection[edit]

awe

  1. yes

Yoruba[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

àwé

  1. friend
    Synonym: ọ̀rẹ́
  2. an unknown person
    Táni àwé yẹn? ― Who is that unknown person?

Usage notes[edit]

  • More commonly used in Central Yoruba dialects

References[edit]

  • Aremo, Bolaji (2012) How Yoruba and Igbo Became Different Languages‎[3], Scribo Publications, →ISBN
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