fawn
Contents
EnglishEdit
PronunciationEdit
Etymology 1Edit
From Old French faon[1], from Vulgar Latin *fetonem, from Latin fētus (“offspring, young”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁(y)- (“to suckle, nurse”)
NounEdit
fawn (plural fawns)
- A young deer.
- A pale brown colour tinted with yellow, like that of a fawn.
- fawn colour:
- (obsolete) The young of an animal; a whelp.
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
young deer
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colour
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AdjectiveEdit
fawn (not comparable)
- Of the fawn colour.
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
pertaining to the colour
- 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
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VerbEdit
fawn (third-person singular simple present fawns, present participle fawning, simple past and past participle fawned)
- (intransitive) To give birth to a fawn.
Etymology 2Edit
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.
VerbEdit
fawn (third-person singular simple present fawns, present participle fawning, simple past and past participle fawned)
- (intransitive) To exhibit affection or attempt to please.
- (intransitive) To seek favour by flattery and obsequious behaviour (with on or upon).
- (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare
- You showed your teeth like apes, and fawned like hounds.
- (Can we date this quote?) John Milton
- Thou with trembling fear, / Or like a fawning parasite, obeyest.
- (Can we date this quote?) Macaulay
- 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.
- (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare
- (intransitive, of a dog) To show devotion or submissiveness by wagging its tail, nuzzling, licking, etc.
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
to exhibit affection
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to seek favour by flattery
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to wag tail
- 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
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See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
- ^ “fawn” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.
- ^ fawn in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.