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Added 9 October 2026

stun

/stʌn/ verb

In Latin: stupefaciō Wiktionary

verb Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about stun at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

Make senseless or dizzy by or as if by a blow.
stun fish
Hit something or somebody as if with a sandbag.
Overcome as with astonishment or disbelief.
The news stunned her

Origin

Inherited from Middle English stonen, stone (“to astonish, stun, numb”, also stoneyen), probably either directly or indirectly from Anglo-Norman estoner (“to stun, astonish”), from Late Latin *stunāre, from Frankish *stunōn (“to thunder, crash”) or perhaps from an unattested Latin *extonāre (“to thunder out, make a thunderous sound”), from tonāre ("to thunder"; compare Latin attonāre). An alternative etymology derives stonen from Old English stunian (“to smash, thunder”), from Proto-West Germanic *stunōn. See also astonish, astound.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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