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gaunt

(gônt)

adj. gaunt·er, gaunt·est

1. Thin or emaciated: "Her smile took up ever more of her increasingly gaunt face" (Lindsey Crittenden). See Synonyms at lean².

2. Bleak or desolate: "She walked along fast ... scared of ... the few shadowy people and the old gaunt houses with their wide inky doorways" (John Dos Passos).

[Middle English, perhaps from Old French gant, possibly of Scandinavian origin.]

gauntly adv.

gauntness n.

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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