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)

(transitive) To grind (one's teeth) in pain or in anger.
gnashing your teeth
(transitive) To grind between the teeth.
to gnash the air in fury

The dog was gnashing a carpet
(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.
(Geordie) To run away.

Derived terms

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)

A sudden snapping of the teeth.

Anagrams

Ghans, Shang, hangs