different between gnash vs gnast

English

Etymology

From Middle English gnasten. Origin unknown; the word is probably either Germanic or onomatopoeic. Compare Old Norse gnastan, German knirschen, German Low German gnirschen, gnörschen (“gnash”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /næ?/
• Rhymes: -æ?

• 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.

2. (transitive) To grind between the teeth.

3. (figuratively) To clash together violently.
4. (Tyneside) To run away.

Derived terms

• gnasher/gnashers
• gnashy

Translations

Noun

gnash (plural gnashes)

1. A sudden snapping of the teeth.

Anagrams

• Ghans, Shang, hangs

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -æst

Etymology 1

From Middle English gnast, knast, from Old English *gn?st (“spark”) (attested in f?rgn?st (“spark of fire”)), from Proto-Germanic *gahnaistô (“spark”), from Proto-Germanic *ga- + Proto-Germanic *hnaistô (“spark”), perhaps from the ultimate (imitative) source of German knistern (“to crackle”).

Cognate with German dialectal Ganster (“spark”), Danish gnist (“spark, sparkle”), Swedish gnista (“spark”), Icelandic gneisti, neisti (“spark”), German Gneis (“spark, gneiss”) (whence English gneiss).

Noun

gnast (plural gnasts)

1. (obsolete) A spark; a dying or dead spark, as of a snuffed candle.

Etymology 2

From Middle English gnasten, gnaisten, from Old English *gn?stan, from Proto-Germanic *gnaistijan?, causative of *gn?stijan? (“to grind”), from Proto-Indo-European *ghneidh-, *g?neyd- (“to gnaw, scratch, rub”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian knasterje (“to gnash”), German Low German gnatschen (“to knead, gnash”), German knastern (“to gnash”), Icelandic gnesta (“to crack”).

Verb

gnast (third-person singular simple present gnasts, present participle gnasting, simple past and past participle gnasted)

1. (transitive, intransitive, obsolete) To gnash.

Derived terms

• gnasting

References

Anagrams

• 'ganst, Gnats, Stang, Tangs, Tsang, angst, gnat's, gnats, stang, tangs

Middle English

Alternative forms

• gnost, gnoste, knast

Etymology

From Old English *gn?st, from Proto-Germanic *gahnaistô.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?nast/, /?n??st/

Noun

gnast

1. spark (small fire)
2. ash (burnt-out lit matter)

Descendants

• English: gnast

References

• “gn?st, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.