gnaw

English

Etymology

From Middle English gnawen, gnaȝen, from Old English gnagan, from Proto-Germanic *gnaganą. Cognate with Dutch knagen, German nagen, Norwegian Bokmål gnage, Norwegian Nynorsk gnaga, Swedish gnaga. Probably from Proto-Indo-European *gʰnēgʰ- (“to gnaw, scratch”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: nô, IPA^(key): /nɔː/
• Rhymes: -ɔː
• (US) enPR: nô, IPA^(key): /nɔ/
• (cot–caught merger) enPR: nä, IPA^(key): /nɑ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophone: nor (in non-rhotic accents)

Verb

gnaw (third-person singular simple present gnaws, present participle gnawing, simple past gnawed or (dialectal) gnew, past participle gnawed or (archaic) gnawn)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To bite something persistently, especially something tough.

   The dog gnawed the bone until it broke in two.

   • c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv], line 25:

     Ten thousand men that fishes gnaw'd upon

2. (intransitive) To produce excessive anxiety or worry.

   Her comment gnawed at me all day and I couldn't think about anything else.

3. To corrode; to fret away; to waste.
   • 1637, Thomas Heywood, The Royall King, and the Loyall Subject. […], London: […] Nich[olas] and John Okes, for James Becket, […], →OCLC, Act III, signature E4, verso:

     VVots thou vvho's returnd, / The unthrift Bonvile, ragged as a ſcarre-crovv / The VVarres have gnavv'd his garments to the skinne: […]

Derived terms

• begnaw
• gnaw someone's vitals
• gnawer
• gnawable
• ungnawed

Related terms

• nag

Translations

to bite something persistently

• Albanian: bren
• Arabic: نَخَرَ (naḵara)

  Egyptian Arabic: قرص (ʔaraṣ)

• Armenian: կրծել (hy) (krcel)
• Aromanian: arod
• Asturian: royer, roer
• Azerbaijani: gəmirmək
• Belarusian: гры́зці impf (hrýzci), глада́ць impf (hladácʹ)
• Breton: krignat (br)
• Bulgarian: гриза́ (bg) impf (grizá), гло́жда impf (glóžda)
• Burmese: တွပ် (my) (twap)
• Catalan: rosegar (ca)
• Cebuano: kitkit
• Cherokee: ᎠᏍᎪᎩᎠ (asgogia)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 啃 (zh) (kěn), 咬 (zh) (yǎo), 噬 (zh) (shì)

• Czech: hlodat impf, hryzat impf
• Danish: gnave
• Dutch: knagen (nl)
• Esperanto: ronĝi
• Finnish: jyrsiä (fi), jäytää (fi), kalvaa (fi)
• French: ronger (fr)
• Friulian: roseâ
• Galician: roer (gl), rillar (gl)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: nagen (de), kauen (de), knabbern (de)
• Greek: ροκανίζω (el) (rokanízo)

  Ancient: τρώγω (trṓgō)

• Hebrew: כִּרְסֵם (he) (kirsém)
• Hindi: कुतरना (hi) (kutarnā)
• Hungarian: rág (hu)
• Icelandic: naga (is)
• Italian: rodere (it), rosicchiare (it), mordicchiare, rosicare (it)
• Japanese: 齧る (ja) (かじる, kajiru)
• Kazakh: кеміру (kemıru)
• Khmer: កកេរ (km) (kɑkee)
• Korean: 쏠다 (ko) (ssolda), 물어뜯다 (mureotteutda)
• Latin: rōdō
• Latvian: kost (lv), krimst
• Macedonian: гризе impf (grize), глода impf (gloda)
• Malay: unggis, kerumit
• Maori: ngūngū, ngau, kakati
• Mbyá Guaraní: nhakaraĩ
• Mongolian: мэрэх (mn) (merex)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: gnage

  Nynorsk: gnaga

• Occitan: rosegar (oc)
• Old Church Slavonic: грꙑзти impf (gryzti)
• Old East Slavic: грызти impf (gryzti)
• Persian: خاییدن (fa) (xâyidan), خسیدن (xasidan)
• Piedmontese: rusié
• Polish: gryźć (pl) impf, głodać impf
• Portuguese: roer (pt), morder (pt)
• Rapa Nui: gaugau
• Romanian: roade (ro)
• Russian: грызть (ru) impf (gryztʹ), глода́ть (ru) impf (glodátʹ)
• Sardinian: rodere, arroere, roere
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: глодати impf

  Roman: glodati (sh) impf

• Slovak: hlodať impf, hrýzť impf
• Slovene: gristi (sl) impf, glódati (sl) impf
• Sorbian:

  Upper Sorbian: hłodać impf, hryzać impf

• Spanish: roer (es)
• Swedish: gnaga (sv)
• Tagalog: ngatngat
• Thai: แทะ (th) (tɛ́)
• Turkish: kemirmek (tr)
• Ukrainian: гри́зти impf (hrýzty), глода́ти impf (hlodáty)
• Uzbek: gʻajimoq (uz), kemirmoq (uz)
• Vietnamese: cắn (vi) (哏), nhằn (vi) (㘖)
• Zazaki: koçen

to produce anxiety or worry

• Bulgarian: глождя (bg) (gloždja), терзая (bg) (terzaja)
• French: harceler (fr), préoccuper (fr)
• German: nagen (de), verfolgen (de), umtreiben (de), beschäftigen (de)
• Italian: rodere (it)
• Maori: kunāwhea, whakakūnawheke, kinikini
• Serbo-Croatian: gnjaviti (sh)

Noun

gnaw (plural gnaws)

1. the act of gnawing

   have a gnaw of a bone

Anagrams

• AgNW, Ngwa, Wang, g'wan, gawn, gwan, wang

Middle Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡnau̯/

Noun

gnaw

1. Soft mutation of knaw.

Mutation

Middle Welsh mutation
Radical	Soft	Nasal	Aspirate
knaw	gnaw	knaw / chnaw pronounced with /ŋ̊-/	chnaw
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.