fawn

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English

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Wikipedia
A fawn.

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

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(deprecated template usage) From Old French faon[1], from Vulgar Latin *fetonem, from Latin fētus (“offspring, young”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁(y)- (“to suckle, nurse”)

Noun

fawn (plural fawns)

  1. A young deer.
  2. A pale brown colour tinted with yellow, like that of a fawn.
    fawn:  
  3. (obsolete) The young of an animal; a whelp.
    • (Can we date this quote by Holland and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      [The tigress] […] followeth […] after her fawns.
Derived terms
Translations

Adjective

fawn (not comparable)

  1. Of the fawn colour.
Derived terms
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb

fawn (third-person singular simple present fawns, present participle fawning, simple past and past participle fawned)

  1. (intransitive) To give birth to a fawn.

Etymology 2

From Middle English fawnen, from Old English fahnian, fagnian, fæġnian (“to rejoice, make glad”)[2]. Akin to Old Norse fagna (“to rejoice”)[3]. See also fain.

Verb

fawn (third-person singular simple present fawns, present participle fawning, simple past and past participle fawned)

  1. (intransitive) To exhibit affection or attempt to please.
  2. (intransitive) To seek favour by flattery and obsequious behaviour (with on or upon).
    • 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
      You showed your teeth like apes, and fawned like hounds.
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    • (Can we date this quote by Macaulay and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      courtiers who fawn on a master while they betray him
    • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 2, in The Mirror and the Lamp‎[1]:
      That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired.
    Synonyms: grovel, wheedle, soft-soap, toady
  3. (intransitive, of a dog) To show devotion or submissiveness by wagging its tail, nuzzling, licking, etc.
Derived terms
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Noun

fawn (plural fawns)

  1. (rare) A servile cringe or bow.
  2. Base flattery.

See also

References

  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “fawn”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
  2. ^ Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.
  3. ^ “fawn”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Welsh

Pronunciation

Verb

fawn

  1. Soft mutation of bawn.
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