gnaw

From Middle English gnawen, gnaȝen, from Old English gnagan, from Proto-Germanic *gnaganą. Cognate with Dutch knagen, German nagen, Norwegian Bokmål gnage, Norwegian Nynorsk gnaga, Swedish gnaga. Probably from Proto-Indo-European *gʰnēgʰ- (“to gnaw, scratch”)

• IPA^(key): /nɔː/

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• Rhymes: -ɔː
• Homophone: nor (in non-rhotic accent)

gnaw (third-person singular simple present gnaws, present participle gnawing, simple past gnawed or (dialectal) gnew, past participle gnawed or (archaic) gnawn)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To bite something persistently, especially something tough.

   The dog gnawed the bone until it broke in two.

   • 1592-94?, Shakespeare, Richard III, Act I, Scene iv, line 25:

     Ten thousand men that fishes gnaw'd upon;

2. (intransitive) To produce excessive anxiety or worry.

   Her comment gnawed at me all day and I couldn't think about anything else.

3. To corrode; to fret away; to waste.

• begnaw
• gnawer
• gnawable
• ungnawed

• Ngwa, Wang, gawn, gwan, wang

• IPA^(key): /ɡnau̯/

gnaw

1. Soft mutation of knaw.