gnash

English

WOTD – 18 March 2007

Etymology

From Middle English gnasten. Origin unknown; the word is probably either Germanic or onomatopoeic. Compare Old Norse gnastan, Danish gnaske ("munch", "crunch"), German knirschen, German Low German gnirschen, gnörschen (“gnash”), Swedish gnissla (“squeak; gnash”).

This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₂dʰ-, related to Proto-Indo-European *ǵénu-; as with Ancient Greek γνᾰ́θος (gnắthos, “jaw”)?”

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnæʃ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æʃ
• Homophone: Nash

Verb

gnash (third-person singular simple present gnashes, present participle gnashing, simple past and past participle gnashed)

1. (transitive) To grind (one's teeth) in pain or in anger.

   gnashing your teeth

2. (transitive) To grind between the teeth.

   to gnash the air in fury

   The dog was gnashing a carpet

3. (figurative) To clash together violently.
   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

     There they were, boiling up in snowy spouts of spray, smiting and gnashing together like the gleaming teeth of hell.

4. (Geordie) To run away.

Derived terms

• gnash up
• gnasher/gnashers
• gnashing/gnashingly
• gnashy
• weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth

Translations

to grind one's teeth in pain or in anger

Arabic: قَرَشَ (ar) (qaraša) Breton: charoñsiñ (br), grigoñsat Bulgarian: скърцам със зъби (bg) (skǎrcam sǎs zǎbi) Catalan: cruixir (ca) Cebuano: kagot Chinese: Cantonese: 咬牙切齒 / 咬牙切齿 (ngaau5 ngaa4 cit3 ci2), 䶟 (haam6), 䫴 / 𩖗 (gaam3, ging6), 咬牙 (ngaau5 ngaa4), 切齒 / 切齿 (cit3 ci2), 齧齒 / 啮齿 (ngit6 ci2, jit6 ci2, ngaat6 ci2) Hakka: 咬牙 (ngâu-ngà), 切齒 / 切齿 (chhiet-chhṳ́) Hokkien: 咬牙 (kā-gê), 切齒 / 切齿 (chhiat-khí / chhiat-chhí) Mandarin: 咬牙切齒 / 咬牙切齿 (zh) (yǎoyáqièchǐ), 䶟 (zh) (xiàn), 䫴 / 𩖗 (zh) (jìn), 咬牙 (zh) (yǎoyá), 切齒 / 切齿 (zh) (qièchǐ), 齧齒 / 啮齿 (nièchǐ) Teochew: 咬牙切齒 / 咬牙切齿 (ga6 ghê5 ciag4 ki2) Czech: skřípat impf Danish: skære tænder Dutch: tandenknarsen (nl), knarsetanden (nl) Esperanto: grincigi Faroese: grísla Finnish: kiristää (fi), kiristellä (fi) French: serrer les dents (fr), grincer (fr) Galician: rilar (gl), rillar (gl) German: knirschen (de) Gothic: 𐌺𐍂𐌹𐌿𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌽 (kriustan) Greek: τρίζω (el) (trízo) Ancient: βρύκω (brúkō), βρύχω (brúkhō), γομφιάζω (gomphiázō), πρίω (príō) Guaraní: oñekãity Hindi: पीसना (hi) (pīsnā) Urdu: پِیسْنا (pīsnā) Hungarian: csikorgatja a fogát (hu), fogát csikorgatja (hu) Icelandic: nísta Ido: grincar (io) Italian: digrignare (it), dirugginire, sbattere (it), scuotere (it) Japanese: 歯軋りする (ja) (,はぎしりする, hagishiri suru) Korean: 갈다 (ko) (galda) Latin: frendo Latvian: griezt (lv) Maori: tetē, tetēā, whakatetēā, nenē Norwegian: Bokmål: skjære tenner (no) Persian: ساییدن (fa) (sâyidan) Polish: zgrzytać (pl) impf Portuguese: ranger (pt), rilhar (pt) Romanian: scrâșni din dinți (ro) Romansch: sgriziar, sgriztgar Russian: скрежета́ть (ru) impf (skrežetátʹ) Scots: chirk Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: шкргу̀тати impf Roman: škrgùtati (sh) impf Shan: ၵတ်းၶဵဝ်ႈၵတ်းၽၼ်း (shn) (kát khāeo kát phán) Spanish: crujir de dientes (es) Swedish: gnissla (sv) Thai: กัด (th) (gàt) Ukrainian: скреготати (skrehotaty) Vietnamese: nghiến răng (vi)

Noun

gnash (plural gnashes)

1. A sudden snapping of the teeth.

Anagrams

• Ghans, Shang, hangs