astonish

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To surprise someone very greatly.

   The magician's final trick astonished the whole audience.

Simplified etymology

Astonish developed in the early 16th century from the earlier Middle English astone. Its source was Old French estoner, from Latin ex-, “out,” and tonare, “to thunder.”

Probably an alteration (due to words ending in -ish: abolish, banish, cherish, establish, furnish, etc.) of earlier astony, astone, astun (“to astonish, stun”), from Middle English astoneyen, astonen (“to stun, astonish”), variant of stonen, stoneyen (“to stun, astonish”) prefixed with a-. However, compare Old French estonir, a rare variant of estoner (“to stun, astonish”).

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary