astonish
/əˈstɑnɪʃ/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.47 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- ""I have no right to give my opinion," said Wickham, "as to his being agreeable or otherwise. I am not qualified to form one. I have known him too long and too well to be a fair judge. It is impossible for me to be impartial. But I believe your opinion of him would in general astonish — and perhaps you would not express it quite so strongly anywhere else. Here you are in your own family.""
Etymology
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”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: astoneyen
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /əˈstɑnɪʃ/
- British English: /əˈstɒnɪʃ/