Astonish
/əˈstɒn.ɪʃ/noun
To surprise or shock someone greatly.
Did you know?Astonish comes from Old French estoner, ultimately from Latin tonare, meaning “to thunder,” so the word’s oldest energy is literally celestial shock.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*ten-
“to make a resonant sound, to thunder”
Latin
Latin
tonare
“to thunder”
Late Latin
Latin
*extonare
“to thunder-strike, stun”
Old French
Old French
estoner
“to stun, amaze, bewilder”
Middle English
English
astonishen
“to stun or strike with wonder”
Modern English
English
astonish
“to surprise or shock greatly”