awe

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A feeling of great respect mixed with wonder or slight fear.

   I stared over the edge of the building with a feeling of awe.

2. 2
   verb

   To fill someone with awe.

   The famous professor awed the students with her knowledge.

From Middle English aw, awe, agh, awȝe, borrowed from Old Norse agi, from Proto-Germanic *agaz (“terror, dread”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂egʰ- (“to be upset, afraid”). Displaced native Middle English eye, eyȝe, ayȝe, eȝȝe, from Old English ege, æge (“fear, terror, dread”), from the same Proto-Germanic root.

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