gaunt

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

From Middle English gawnt, gawnte (“lean, slender”), from Old French jaunet, 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 *gʷʰen- (“to beat, hit, drive”).

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: gônt, IPA^(key): /ɡɔːnt/
• (US) enPR: gônt, IPA^(key): /ɡɔnt/
  • (cot–caught merger, Canada) enPR: gänt, IPA^(key): /ɡɑnt/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ɔːnt

gaunt (comparative gaunter, superlative gauntest)

1. Lean, angular, and bony.
   • 1866, Herman Melville, Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War‎, The Portent:

     Hanging from the beam,
     Slowly swaying (such the law),
     Gaunt the shadow on your green,
     Shenandoah!

   • 1894, Joseph Jacobs, chapter 1, in The Fables of Aesop‎, archived from the original on 28 February 2011:

     A gaunt Wolf was almost dead with hunger when he happened to meet a House-dog who was passing by.

2. Haggard, drawn, and emaciated.
   • 1895–1897, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Stillness”, in The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, published 1898, →OCLC, book II (The Earth under the Martians), page 239:

     Far away I saw a gaunt cat slink crouchingly along a wall, but traces of men there were none.

   • 1913 November 22, Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of the Dying Detective”, in His Last Bow: A Reminiscence of Sherlock Holmes, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published October 1917, →OCLC, page 181:

     In the dim light of a foggy November day the sick-room was a gloomy spot, but it was that gaunt, wasted face staring at me from the bed which sent a chill to my heart.

   • 2024 February 17, “The extraordinary courage of Alexei Navalny”, in FT Weekend, The FT View, page 8:

     Whatever the official cause of his is death is said to be—and Navalny, though gaunt, seemed in good spirits in a court hearing a day earlier—foreign leaders are rightly holding the Kremlin responsible.

3. Bleak, barren, and desolate.
   • 1896, Mary Baker Eddy, “The Way”, in Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896‎, page 355:

     The present stage of progress in Christian Science presents two opposite aspects, — a full-orbed promise, and a gaunt want.

   • 1908, William Hope Hodgson, chapter 14, in The House on the Borderland‎, archived from the original on 14 April 2012:

     Behind me, rose up, to an extraordinary height, gaunt, black cliffs.

• scraggy, scrawny, skinny

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “gaunt”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

• Tunga, untag

• gant

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

gaunt

1. To yawn.

gaunt (plural gaunts)

1. A yawn.