noun
Meaning 1
The act of gnawing.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- give something a gnaw
- have a gnaw of a bone
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
gnaw
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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UK: nô
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UK: /nɔː/
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rhymes with -ɔː
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US: nô
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US: /nɔ/
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cot-caught-merger: nä
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cot-caught-merger: /nɑ/
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US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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homophone: nor (non-rhotic)
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CMU ARPABET: N AO1 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
verb
Meaning 2
To bite something persistently, especially something tough.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: ambitransitive
Examples
- The dog gnawed the bone until it broke in two.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 3
To produce excessive anxiety or worry.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
Examples
- Her comment gnawed at me all day and I couldn't think about anything else.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 4
To corrode; to fret away; to waste.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 5
become ground down or deteriorate
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- Her confidence eroded
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: erode, gnaw at, eat at, wear away
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: decay, crumble, dilapidate
verb
Meaning 6
bite or chew on with the teeth
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- gnaw an old cracker
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: chew, masticate, manducate, jaw, bite, seize with teeth
History
Etymology
From Middle English gnawen, gnaȝen, from Old English gnagan, from Proto-West Germanic *gnagan, from Proto-Germanic *gnaganą (“to gnaw”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *ghnēgh- (“to gnaw, scratch”). Cognate with Dutch knagen, German nagen, Danish gnave (“to gnaw”), Norwegian Bokmål gnage, Norwegian Nynorsk gnaga, Swedish gnaga.
Across languages
Translations
134 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Albanian: bren — to bite something persistently
- Arabic: نَخَرَ (naḵara) — to bite something persistently
- Arabic: قَضَمَ (qaḍama) — to bite something persistently
- Arabic: قرص (ʔaraṣ) — to bite something persistently
- Armenian: կրծել (krcel) — to bite something persistently
- Aromanian: arod — to bite something persistently
- Asturian: royer — to bite something persistently
- Asturian: roer — to bite something persistently
- Asturian: ñascar — to bite something persistently
- Azerbaijani: gəmirmək — to bite something persistently
- Bashkir: кимереү (kimerew) — to bite something persistently
- Belarusian: гры́зці (hrýzci) — to bite something persistently
- Belarusian: глада́ць (hladácʹ) — to bite something persistently
- Breton: krignat — to bite something persistently
- Bulgarian: гриза́ (grizá) — to bite something persistently
- Bulgarian: гло́жда (glóžda) — to bite something persistently
- Burmese: တွပ် (twap) — to bite something persistently
- Catalan: rosegar — to bite something persistently
- Cebuano: kitkit — to bite something persistently
- Cherokee: ᎠᏍᎪᎩᎠ (asgogia) — to bite something persistently
- Chinese Mandarin: 啃 (kěn) — to bite something persistently
- Chinese Mandarin: 咬 (yǎo) — to bite something persistently
- Chinese Mandarin: 噬 (shì) — to bite something persistently
- Czech: hlodat — to bite something persistently
- Czech: hryzat — to bite something persistently
- Danish: gnave — to bite something persistently
- Dutch: knagen — to bite something persistently
- Esperanto: ronĝi — to bite something persistently
- Finnish: jyrsiä — to bite something persistently
- Finnish: jäytää — to bite something persistently
- Finnish: kalvaa — to bite something persistently
- French: ronger — to bite something persistently
- Friulian: roseâ — to bite something persistently
- Galician: roer — to bite something persistently
- Galician: rillar — to bite something persistently
- German: nagen — to bite something persistently
- German: kauen — to bite something persistently
- German: knabbern — to bite something persistently
- Greek: ροκανίζω (rokanízo) — to bite something persistently
- Ancient Greek: τρώγω (trṓgō) — to bite something persistently
- Mbya Guarani: nhakaraĩ — to bite something persistently
- Hebrew: כִּרְסֵם (kirsém) — to bite something persistently
- Hindi: कुतरना (kutarnā) — to bite something persistently
- Hungarian: rág — to bite something persistently
- Icelandic: naga — to bite something persistently
- Italian: rodere — to bite something persistently
- Italian: rosicchiare — to bite something persistently
- Italian: mordicchiare — to bite something persistently
- Italian: rosicare — to bite something persistently
- Japanese: 齧る (kajiru) — to bite something persistently
- Kazakh: кеміру (kemıru) — to bite something persistently
- Khmer: កកេរ (kɑkee) — to bite something persistently
- Korean: 쏠다 (ssolda) — to bite something persistently
- Korean: 물어뜯다 (mureotteutda) — to bite something persistently
- Latin: rōdō — to bite something persistently
- Latvian: kost — to bite something persistently
- Latvian: krimst — to bite something persistently
- Lithuanian: įsikąsti — to bite something persistently
- Macedonian: гризе (grize) — to bite something persistently
- Macedonian: глода (gloda) — to bite something persistently
- Malay: unggis — to bite something persistently
- Malay: kerumit — to bite something persistently
- Māori: ngūngū — to bite something persistently
- Māori: ngau — to bite something persistently
- Māori: kakati — to bite something persistently
- Mongolian: мэрэх (merex) — to bite something persistently
- Norwegian Bokmål: gnage — to bite something persistently
- Norwegian Nynorsk: gnaga — to bite something persistently
- Occitan: rosegar — to bite something persistently
- Old Church Slavonic: грꙑсти (grysti) — to bite something persistently
- Old Church Slavonic: погрꙑсти (pogrysti) — to bite something persistently
- Old East Slavic: грызти (gryzti) — to bite something persistently
- Persian: خاییدن (xâyidan) — to bite something persistently
- Persian: خسیدن (xasidan) — to bite something persistently
- Piedmontese: rusié — to bite something persistently
- Polish: gryźć — to bite something persistently
- Polish: głodać — to bite something persistently
- Portuguese: roer — to bite something persistently
- Portuguese: morder — to bite something persistently
- Rapa Nui: ŋauŋau — to bite something persistently
- Romanian: roade — to bite something persistently
- Russian: грызть (gryztʹ) — to bite something persistently
- Russian: глода́ть (glodátʹ) — to bite something persistently
- Sardinian: rodere — to bite something persistently
- Sardinian: arroere — to bite something persistently
- Sardinian: roere — to bite something persistently
- Serbo-Croatian: глодати — to bite something persistently
- Serbo-Croatian: glodati — to bite something persistently
- Slovak: hlodať — to bite something persistently
- Slovak: hrýzť — to bite something persistently
- Slovene: gristi — to bite something persistently
- Slovene: glódati — to bite something persistently
- Slovene: poglodati — to bite something persistently
- Upper Sorbian: hłodać — to bite something persistently
- Upper Sorbian: hryzać — to bite something persistently
- Spanish: roer — to bite something persistently
- Spanish: rosigar — to bite something persistently
- Spanish: carcomer — to bite something persistently
- Spanish: chancomer — to bite something persistently
- Spanish: rustir — to bite something persistently
- Spanish: morder — to bite something persistently
- Swedish: gnaga — to bite something persistently
- Tagalog: ngatngat — to bite something persistently
- Thai: แทะ (tɛ́) — to bite something persistently
- Turkish: kemirmek — to bite something persistently
- Ukrainian: гри́зти (hrýzty) — to bite something persistently
- Ukrainian: глода́ти (hlodáty) — to bite something persistently
- Uzbek: gʻajimoq — to bite something persistently
- Uzbek: kemirmoq — to bite something persistently
- Vietnamese: cắn — to bite something persistently
- Vietnamese: nhằn — to bite something persistently
- Welsh: cnoi — to bite something persistently
- Zazaki: koçen — to bite something persistently
- Bulgarian: глождя (gloždja) — to produce anxiety or worry
- Bulgarian: терзая (terzaja) — to produce anxiety or worry
- French: harceler — to produce anxiety or worry
- French: préoccuper — to produce anxiety or worry
- German: nagen — to produce anxiety or worry
- German: verfolgen — to produce anxiety or worry
- German: umtreiben — to produce anxiety or worry
- German: beschäftigen — to produce anxiety or worry
- Italian: rodere — to produce anxiety or worry
- Māori: kunāwhea — to produce anxiety or worry
- Māori: whakakūnawheke — to produce anxiety or worry
- Māori: kinikini — to produce anxiety or worry
- Serbo-Croatian: gnjaviti — to produce anxiety or worry
- Spanish: carcomer — to produce anxiety or worry
- Spanish: roer — to produce anxiety or worry
- Spanish: reconcomer — to produce anxiety or worry
- Spanish: concomer — to produce anxiety or worry
- Spanish: recomer — to produce anxiety or worry
- Spanish: corroer — to produce anxiety or worry
- Welsh: cnoi — to produce anxiety or worry
- Welsh: dwysbigo — to produce anxiety or worry