gnaw

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
8
Words With Friends
10
Letters
4
Pronunciation
/nɔː/ (UK)
See all 3 pronunciations
/nɔː/ (UK) · /nɔ/ (US) · /nɑ/

Definition of gnaw

4 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

verb

  1. (ambitransitive)To bite something persistently, especially something tough.
    “The dog gnawed the bone until it broke in two.”
    “Ten thousand men that fishes gnaw'd upon”
See all 4 definitions

verb

  1. (ambitransitive)To bite something persistently, especially something tough.
    “The dog gnawed the bone until it broke in two.”
    “Ten thousand men that fishes gnaw'd upon”
  2. (intransitive)To produce excessive anxiety or worry.
    “Her comment gnawed at me all day and I couldn't think about anything else.”
  3. To corrode; to fret away; to waste.
    “VVots thou vvho's returnd, / The unthrift Bonvile, ragged as a ſcarre-crovv / The VVarres have gnavv'd his garments to the skinne: […]”

noun

  1. The act of gnawing.
    “have a gnaw of a bone”

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

From Middle English gnawen, gnaȝen, from Old English gnagan, from Proto-West Germanic *gnagan, from Proto-Germanic *gnaganą (“to gnaw”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *gʰnēgʰ- (“to gnaw, scratch”). Cognate with Dutch knagen, German nagen, Danish gnave (“to gnaw”), Norwegian Bokmål gnage, Norwegian Nynorsk gnaga, Swedish gnaga.

Anagrams of gnaw

5 plays · some not in Scrabble

Words you can make from gnaw

10 playable · top: WAG (7 pts)

Best play wag 7 points

3-letter words

5 words

2-letter words

4 words

Hooks

2 extensions · 2 back

A single letter you can add to gnaw to make another valid word.

Find your best play with gnaw

See every word you can make from a set of letters that includes gnaw, or browse word lists you can mine for high-scoring plays.