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”).

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