gnast

Meanings

Noun

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

Verb

• To gnash.

Origin

• From Middle English gnast, knast, from Old English *gnāst (attested in fȳrgnāst), from Proto-Germanic *gahnaistô, from Proto-Germanic *ga- + Proto-Germanic *hnaistô, perhaps from the ultimate (imitative) source of German knistern ("to crackle").
• Cognate with German dialectal Ganster, Danish gnist ("spark, sparkle"), Swedish gnista ("spark"), Icelandic gneisti, neisti, German Gneis ("spark, gneiss") (whence English gneiss).
• From Middle English gnasten, gnaisten, from Old English *gnǣstan, from Proto-Germanic *gnaistijaną, causative of *gnīstijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *ghneidh-, *gʰneyd-. Cognate with Saterland Frisian knasterje ("to gnash"), German Low German gnatschen ("to knead, gnash"), German knastern ("to gnash"), Icelandic gnesta ("to crack").