different between wizened vs gaunt

English

Etymology

wizen +? ed.

Inherited from Middle English wisenen, from Old English wisnian, weosnian, from Proto-Germanic *wisn?jan. Cognate with Icelandic visna.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?w?z?nd/, /?wiz?nd/

Verb

wizened

1. simple past tense and past participle of wizen

Adjective

wizened (comparative more wizened, superlative most wizened)

1. Withered; lean and wrinkled by shrinkage as from age or illness.
   • 1816, Sir Walter Scott, Old Mortality, ch. 8:

     "Ill-fard, crazy, crack-brained gowk, that she is!" exclaimed the housekeeper. . . "If it hadna been that I am mair than half a gentlewoman by my station, I wad hae tried my ten nails in the wizen'd hide o' her!"

   • 1907, Jack London, Before Adam, ch. 7:

     He was old, too, wizened with age, and the hair on his face was gray.

   • 2010 May 13, Richard Corliss, "Cannes: Best-Ever Film by a 101-Year-Old Man," Time (retrieved 5 Oct 2013):

     In the simple fable about old age reconciling itself to memory and destiny, Mastroianni wears the wizened smile of a man who knows he is visiting his youth for the last time.

Translations

English

Alternative forms

• gant (dialectal, Scotland)
• gent (Scotland)

Etymology

From Middle English gawnt, gawnte (“lean, slender”), from Old French [Term?], probably from a Scandinavian/North Germanic source, related to Old Norse gandr (“magic staff, stick”), from Proto-Germanic *gandaz (“stick, staff”), from Proto-Indo-European *g??en- (“to beat, hit, drive”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: gônt, IPA^(key): /???nt/
• (some accents) enPR: gänt, IPA^(key): /???nt/
• Rhymes: -??nt, -??nt

Adjective

gaunt (comparative gaunter, superlative gauntest)

1. lean, angular, and bony
2. haggard, drawn, and emaciated
3. bleak, barren, and desolate

Synonyms

• scraggy, scrawny, skinny

Translations

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “gaunt”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Anagrams

• Tunga, untag

Scots

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Alternative forms

• gant

Verb

gaunt

1. To yawn.

Noun

gaunt (plural gaunts)

1. A yawn.