fawn
EnglishEdit
PronunciationEdit
Etymology 1Edit
From Middle English fawne, fowne, foun, from Old French faon, foon, feon,[1] from Vulgar Latin *fētōnem, from Latin fētus (“offspring, young”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁(y)- (“to suckle, nurse”). Displaced native Old English hindċealf (literally “deer calf”). Doublet of fetus.
NounEdit
fawn (plural fawns)
- A young deer.
- Synonym: deerling
- A pale brown colour tinted with yellow, like that of a fawn.
- fawn:
- (obsolete) The young of an animal; a whelp.
- 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “(please specify |book=I to XXXVII)”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the VVorld. Commonly Called, The Natvrall Historie of C. Plinivs Secvndus. […], (please specify |tome=1 or 2), London: […] Adam Islip, published 1635, →OCLC:
- she [the tigress] rageth upon the shore and the sands, for the losse of her fawnes
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
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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 fagnian, related to Old English fæġnian (“to celebrate”), whence Middle English fainen, English fain[2]. Cognate with Old Norse fagna[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).
- 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.
- 1671, John Milton, Paradise Regained:
- Thou with trembling fear, / Or like a fawning parasite, obeyest.
- 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 23, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:
- 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.
- (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
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
|
NounEdit
fawn (plural fawns)
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “fawn”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.
- ^ fawn in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
Middle EnglishEdit
Alternative formsEdit
EtymologyEdit
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
DescendantsEdit
- English: faun
ReferencesEdit
- “faun, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
WelshEdit
PronunciationEdit
VerbEdit
fawn
- Soft mutation of bawn.
NounEdit
fawn
- Soft mutation of mawn.
MutationEdit
| Welsh mutation | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| radical | soft | nasal | aspirate |
| bawn | fawn | mawn | unchanged |
| Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs. | |||