fawn

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 16, 2013 is: fawn • \FAWN\  • verb 1 : to show affection - used especially of a dog 2 : to court favor by a cringing or flattering manner Examples: The author gave a reading from her latest book, followed by a meet and greet where she was fawned over by adoring fans. "The trip was relaxing, and Lauren was right. I was like a different person, probably because I didn't have deadlines looming over me, the pressures of running a household, no hour-long commute and my parents fawned over me like I was royalty." - From a blog post by Jessica Ryen Doyle on FoxNews.com, May 3, 2013 Did you know? Some people will be glad to learn the origins of "fawn"-and there's a hint about the word's etymology in that declaration. Middle English speakers adapted an Old English word meaning "to rejoice" to create the verb "faunen," which shifted in spelling over time to become "fawn." That Old English word, in turn, derives from "fagan," meaning "glad." "Fagan" is also an ancestor of the English adjective "fain," whose earliest (now obsolete) meaning is "happy" or "pleased." If we follow the etymological path of "fawn" even further back, we arrive at an ancient word that also provided Old German and Old Norse with words for "happy." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.