gnaw

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English gnauen,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English gnagan,^[5][6][2] from Proto-Germanic *gnaganą (“to gnaw”),^[1][7] and is related to Old Norse gnaga, Old High German gnagan and German nagen.^[5][8][9] Forms with initial k- appear in Old High German chnagen, Middle Dutch cnaghen and Dutch knagen;^[5] Kroonen explains them by a shift of the initial cluster in those languages of the West Germanic group where initial g was a fricative,^[7] but Barnhart thought the connection of the Dutch forms conjectural.^[4] Kroonen takes the verb as an o-grade intensive with no certain cognates outside Germanic, and doubts the comparison with an Avestan participle meaning "gnawed".^[7] Others have compared it with Latvian gńēga (“one who eats with long teeth”),^[4] Tocharian B nāsk- (“to eat, to gnaw”),^[10] or Russian words for rotting.^[11] Etymonline, Hoad and the Shorter Oxford think it ultimately imitative.^[12][9][13] Weekley and Klein compare nag, "to worry".^[14][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

To bite persistently, wearing a thing away or removing portions of it: in Old English, in Be Domes Dæge,^[5] before 1000 in Barnhart.^[4] Bosworth–Toller quotes Wulfstan on worms that gnaw the bones with burning teeth (Wyrmas heora bán gnagað byrnendum tóðum).^[6]

Semantic evolution

The figurative use came early: Hali Meidenhad (c. 1230) applies it to passion, remorse and the like,^[5][12] The verb also came to be used with an adverb of result (gnaw away, gnaw off), from Rolle in 1340,^[5] and without an object, often with at, from before 1382.^[5] From Palsgrave in 1530 it was said of corroding agents and of internal pains,^[5] and Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor has the figurative intransitive use.^[5] Johnson (1755) gave the senses "to eat by degrees" and "to bite in agony or rage".^[15] The Old English verb was strong, with a past gnóh,^[6] and Middle English past forms like gnou and gneu are recorded;^[2] the weak gnawed dates from the 18th century, with the participle gnawn beside it.^[9] The spelling knaw was quite common in the 16th and 17th centuries, which shows that kn- and gn- already sounded alike.^[5] In dialect the past gnew survived in Aberdeenshire, Yorkshire and Suffolk, the verb meant "to trouble, annoy" in Nottinghamshire, and a gnaw-post was a fool in Lincolnshire, Wiltshire and Somerset.^[16] New Zealand slang has it for kissing.^[17]

Timeline

• before 1000 – to bite persistently; to wear away by biting.^[4][5]
• c. 1230 – figurative, of passion and remorse.^[5][12]
• 1340 – with a word expressing the result: to gnaw away, to gnaw off.^[5]
• before 1382 – without an object, often with at or on.^[5]
• 1530 – of destructive agents, to corrode; of pains.^[5]
• 1735 – noun, an act of gnawing, in the OED's only record of it.^[5]
• 1988 – New Zealand slang, to kiss.^[17]

Meanings

Verb

1. To bite or chew persistently, so as to wear away or remove part of something: The puppy gnawed an old slipper.^[18][11][5]
2. To make by such biting: Mice gnawed a passage through the sack.^[18][11]
3. To wear away gradually; to erode or corrode.^[18][5]
4. To cause constant distress, worry or pain, often with at: Doubt gnawed at her all winter.^[18][11][5]

Noun

1. The act of gnawing.^[18][13]

Word family

• gnawer
• gnawable
• outgnaw
• ungnawed
• ungnawn

Related words

• nag
• gnat
• forgnaw

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
7. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
13. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
17. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
18. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins