# astonish

Pronunciation: say "uh-STON-ish" US /əˈstɑnɪʃ/, UK /əˈstɒnɪʃ/

## Verb

1. To fill someone with great surprise.
   - Simple: To surprise someone very much.
   - _The experimental results astonish even seasoned researchers._
   - _His sudden act of generosity astonished everyone at the table._

## Origin

This is probably an altered form of the earlier English 'astony', 'astone', or 'astun' (to astonish, stun), from Middle English 'astoneyen'. The ending changed to -ish by analogy with words like 'abolish', 'banish', and 'furnish'. Some compare it to Old French 'estonir', a rare variant of 'estoner' (to stun, astonish).

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/astonish (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).