Fawn Meaning
/fɔːn/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA young deer.
nounA pale brown colour tinted with yellow, like that of a fawn.
Sentence Examples
The fawn bolted from its hiding place.
The fawn blended seamlessly into the foliage.
Don't fawn on me. I don't like it.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The mother deer gently licked her newborn ____ as it stood on wobbly legs.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The mother deer hid her young ____ in the tall grass where it would be safe from predators.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English fawne, fowne, foun, from Old French faon, foon, feon, from Vulgar Latin *fētōnem, from Latin fētus (“offspring, young”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁(y)- (“to suckle, nurse”). Displaced native Old English hindċealf (literally “deer calf”). Doublet of fetus.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The city recently carried out a deer census, determining there are 313 stags (males), 798 does (females) and 214 fawns (babies) in Nara Park."
— 2024 July 23, Lilit Marcus, “Japan may be sick of mass tourism. But the deer in this ancient UNESCO-listed city love it”, in CNN:
"she [the tigress] rageth upon the shore and the sands, for the losse of her fawnes"
— 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “(please specify |book=I to XXXVII)”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], (please specify |tome=1 or 2), London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC:
"You showed your teeth like apes, and fawned like hounds."
— 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
"Thou with trembling fear, / Or like a fawning parasite, obeyest."
— 1671, John Milton, Paradise Regained, book 1:
"courtiers who fawn on a master while they betray him"
— 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XXIII, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The mother deer gently licked her newborn ____ as it stood on wobbly legs.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The mother deer hid her young ____ in the tall grass where it would be safe from predators.