Amazement
/əˈmeɪz.mənt/noun
A feeling of great surprise or wonder.
Did you know?The core of amazement is tied to an older sense of being bewildered or dazed, and English later shifted it into the cleaner modern meaning of wonder.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*mei-
“to change, exchange, move about”
Old English
OE
(not directly attested in this form; later influence from Old French and Middle English developments)
“—”
Old French
OF
esmaier
“to astonish, frighten, dismay”
Middle English
ME
amaisen / amaisen
“to bewilder, stun, daze; later, to astonish”
14th–15th Century
English
amazed
“dazed, confounded, stupefied”
Modern English
English
amazement
“wonder or astonishment”