Join free

gnast

English

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

gnast¹

Rhymes with -æst

Where it comes from

From Middle English gnast, knast, from Old English *gnāst (“spark”) (attested in fȳrgnāst (“spark of fire”)), from Proto-Germanic *gahnaistô (“spark”), from Proto-Germanic *ga- + Proto-Germanic *hnaistô (“spark”), perhaps from the ultimate (imitative) source of German knistern (“to crackle”).

Cognate with German dialectal Ganster (“spark”), Danish gnist (“spark, sparkle”), Swedish gnista (“spark”), Icelandic gneisti, neisti (“spark”), German Gneis (“spark, gneiss”) (whence English gneiss).

noun gnasts

  1. obsolete A spark; a dying or dead spark, as of a snuffed candle.

gnast²

Rhymes with -æst

Where it comes from

From Middle English gnasten, gnaisten, from Old English *gnǣstan, from Proto-Germanic *gnaistijaną, causative of *gnīstijaną (“to grind”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰneydh-, *gʰneyd- (“to gnaw, scratch, rub”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian knasterje (“to gnash”), German Low German gnatschen (“to knead, gnash”), German knastern (“to gnash”), Icelandic gnesta (“to crack”).

verb gnasts · gnasting · gnasted

  1. ambitransitive, obsolete To gnash.

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

"gnast." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/gnast. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

gnast. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/gnast

Chicago

"gnast." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/gnast.

BibTeX
@misc{gnast_2026,
  title = {gnast},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/gnast},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}