yawn

Meanings

Verb

• To open the mouth widely and take a long, rather deep breath, often because one is tired or bored, and sometimes accompanied by pandiculation.
• To say while yawning.
• To present a wide opening.
• To open the mouth, or to gape, through surprise or bewilderment.
• To be eager; to desire to swallow anything; to express desire by yawning.

Noun

• The action of yawning; opening the mouth widely and taking a long, rather deep breath, often because one is tired or bored.
• A particularly boring event.

Origin

• Partly from Middle English yanen, yonen, yenen, from Old English ġinian, from Proto-Germanic *ginōną; and partly from Middle English gonen, from Old English gānian, from Proto-Germanic *gainōną; both from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰi-, *ǵʰeyh₁-. Cognate with North Frisian jåne, Saterland Frisian jaanje, joanje, Middle Dutch genen, ghenen, German Low German jahnen, German gähnen, dialectal Swedish gana, dialectal Norwegian gina.
• Compare also Old Church Slavonic зѣѭ (Russian зи́нуть, зия́ть), Greek χαίνω), Latin hiō, Tocharian A śew, Tocharian B kāyā, Lithuanian žioti, Sanskrit जेह्