frown

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɹaʊn/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

  Rhymes: -aʊn

Etymology 1

From Middle English frown, froun (“a threatening appearance; lowering of the clouds”), from frounen (“to frown”). See below.

Noun

frown (plural frowns)

A frowning emoji

1. A facial expression in which the eyebrows are brought together, and the forehead is wrinkled, usually indicating displeasure, sadness or worry, or less often confusion or concentration.

   • 1873, Charles Darwin, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals^[1], page 223:

     He encounters some obstacle in his train of reasoning ... and then a frown passes like a shadow over his brow.

1. A facial expression in which the corners of the mouth are pointed down.

   • 1911 December 1, “Facial Expression Electric Sign”, in Popular Electricity^[2], volume iv, number 8, Chicago, page 714:

     The smile and the frown are both indicated and the operation of a motor driven flasher causes the face to look happy and sad in turn.

Derived terms

• permafrown

Translations

facial expression

• Afrikaans: frons
• Armenian: խոժոռվածություն (xožoṙvacutʿyun)
• Bulgarian: смръщване n (smrǎštvane)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 愁眉苦臉 (zh), 愁眉苦脸 (zh) (chóuméikǔliǎn), 皺眉 (zh), 皱眉 (zh) (zhòuméi)

• Dutch: fronsen (nl)
• Esperanto: malrideto
• Finnish: otsan rypistys, kulmien kurtistus
• French: froncement (fr) m
• Georgian: მოღუშული გარეგნობა (moɣušuli garegnoba), წარბის შეკვრა (c̣arbis šeḳvra)
• German: finsterer Blick, Stirnrunzeln n
• Greek: συνοφρύωση (el) f (synofrýosi)
• Icelandic: gretta, ygglibrún, vanþóknunarsvipur
• Irish: púic f

• Italian: accigliato (it) m, accigliamento m, corruccio (it) m, corrucciamento m
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Lojban: frumu
• Persian: اخم‏‎ (fa) (axm)
• Polish: zmarszczenie brwi
• Portuguese: franzimento m
• Romanian: încruntare (ro) f
• Russian: нахму́ренные бро́ви f pl (naxmúrennyje bróvi), насу́пленные бро́ви f pl (nasúplennyje bróvi), хму́рый взгляд m (xmúryj vzgljad)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: мр̀ште̄ње n, мр̀гође̄ње n

  Roman: mr̀štēnje n, mr̀gođēnje n

• Spanish: ceño (es) m
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: cilwg m, cuwch m, f, gwg m, blwng (cy) f, cadwch m

Etymology 2

From Middle English frounen (“to frown as an expression of disapproval, displeasure, shame, fear, or jealousy”), from Old French frognier (“to frown or scowl”), from Gaulish *frognā (“nostril”), from Proto-Celtic *srognā.

Verb

frown (third-person singular simple present frowns, present participle frowning, simple past and past participle frowned)

1. (intransitive) To have a frown on one's face.

   She frowned when I told her the news.

2. (intransitive) To manifest displeasure or disapprobation; to look with disfavour or threateningly.

   Noisy gossip in the library is frowned upon.

   • Shakespeare

     The sky doth frown and lower upon our army.

3. (transitive) To repress or repel by expressing displeasure or disapproval; to rebuke with a look.

   Let us frown the impudent fellow into silence.

4. (transitive) To communicate by frowning.

   Frank frowned his displeasure with my proposal.

   • 2017 June 26, Alexis Petridis, “Glastonbury 2017 verdict: Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Lorde, Stormzy and more”, in the Guardian^[3]:

     As the band paused between songs, a gust of wind blew a distinctive Worthy Farm odour in the direction of drummer/vocalist Julien Ehrich: “Wow,” he frowned, “this place smells of cow shit.”

Derived terms

• frown at
• frown on
• frown upon

Translations

to have a frown on one's face

• Afrikaans: frons
• Arabic: عَبَسَ‏‎ (ʿabasa)
• Armenian: հոնքերը կիտել (honkʿerə kitel), խոժոռվել (hy) (xožoṙvel)
• Belarusian: хму́рыцца impf (xmúrycca), нахму́рыцца pf (naxmúrycca)
• Bulgarian: мръщя се (mrǎštja se), чумеря се (čumerja se)
• Catalan: arrufar les celles
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 皺眉 (zh), 皱眉 (zh) (zhòuméi), 蹙額, 蹙额 (cù'é), 蹙眉 (zh) (cùméi)

• Czech: mračit se (cs)
• Dutch: fronsen (nl)
• Estonian: kulmu kortsutama, kulme kortsutama
• Finnish: rypistää otsaansa, kurtistaa kulmiaan
• French: froncer les sourcils (fr)
• German: die Stirn runzeln, runzeln (de)

• Icelandic: hnykla brýnnar, hleypa brúnum, yggla sig
• Italian: accigliarsi, corrucciarsi, imbronciare, immusonire, risentirsi, imbronciarsi
• Japanese: 顔を顰める (かおをしかめる, kao o shikameru)
• Persian: اخم کردن‏‎ (axm kardan)
• Polish: marszczyć brwi
• Portuguese: fazer cara feia, franzir o cenho
• Romanian: încrunta (ro)
• Russian: хму́риться (ru) impf (xmúritʹsja), нахму́риться (ru) pf (naxmúritʹsja), хму́рить бро́ви impf (xmúritʹ bróvi), нахму́рить бро́ви pf (naxmúritʹ bróvi)
• Slovak: mračiť sa
• Sotho: sosobana
• Spanish: fruncir el ceño
• Swedish: rynka pannan
• Ukrainian: насуплюватися (nasupljuvatysja)
• Westrobothnian: dra kȧttn på näsan, gräni, gränjäs

to look with disfavour or threateningly

• Catalan: arrufar el nas
• Danish: skule
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: skule (no)

• Ukrainian: несхвалювати (nesxvaljuvaty)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: ^{(please verify)} râler (fr)
• German: ^{(please verify)} finster dreinblicken (1), ^{(please verify)} missbilligen (de) (2)

• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} fruncir (es) (1)

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Welsh

Adjective

frown

1. Soft mutation of brown.

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
brown	frown	mrown	unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.