shun
/ʃʌn/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.24 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "Acrophobes shun mountaineering."
- "British journalists shun complete respectability, feeling a duty to be ready to savage the mighty, or rummage through their bins. Elsewhere in Europe, government contracts and subsidies ensure that press barons will only defy the mighty so far."
- "I'll shun meeting them for as long as possible."
Etymology
From Middle English schonen (“to decline to do, avoid, fear”), from Old English sċunian (“to shun, fear, avoid”), of uncertain origin, though probably ultimately connected to the Proto-Indo-European root *(s)kewH- (“to cover, conceal”) via Proto-Germanic *skunōną; see that entry for more discussion. Compare hide, shy, and Sanskrit स्कुनाति (skunāti, “to cover”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *(s)kewH-, schonen, sċunian, -, *skunōną