fawn
/foːn/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.02 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Of the fawn colour.
Example Sentences
- "The city recently carried out a deer census, determining there are 313 stags (males), 798 does (females) and 214 fawns (babies) in Nara Park."
- "she [the tigress] rageth upon the shore and the sands, for the losse of her fawnes"
- "You showed your teeth like apes, and fawned like hounds."
- "Thou with trembling fear, / Or like a fawning parasite, obeyest."
- "courtiers who fawn on a master while they betray him"
- "That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired."
Etymology
From Middle English fawne, fowne, foun, from Old French faon, foon, feon, from Vulgar Latin *fētōnem, from Latin fētus (“offspring, young”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁(y)- (“to suckle, nurse”). Displaced native Old English hindċealf (literally “deer calf”). Doublet of fetus.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *dʰeh₁(y)-, foun, feon, *feto, fētus, fawnen
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /foːn/
- British English: /fɔːn/