# astonish

> English word · Verb · IPA /əˈstɒnɪʃ/ · frequency rank #54,625

## Definitions
1. To surprise greatly.

## Etymology
Probably an alteration (due to words ending in -ish: abolish, banish, cherish, establish, furnish, etc.) of earlier astony, astone, astun (“to astonish, stun”), from Middle English astoneyen, astonen (“to stun, astonish”), variant of stonen, stoneyen (“to stun, astonish”) prefixed with a-. However, compare Old French estonir, a rare variant of estoner (“to stun, astonish”).

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/astonish