fawn
noun · adjective · verb
Simple meaning
A young deer.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
fawnIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈfɔn
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A pale brown colour tinted with yellow, like that of a fawn.
A young deer
Base flattery.
adjective
Of the fawn colour.
verb
intransitive
To seek favour by flattery and obsequious behaviour. [with on or upon]
intransitiveof a dog
To show devotion or submissiveness by wagging its tail, nuzzling, licking, etc.
intransitive
To exhibit affection or attempt to please.
intransitive
To give birth to a fawn.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A pale brown colour tinted with yellow, like that of a fawn.
Used this way, fawn is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
California dogtooth violet with creamy white flowers sometimes yellow-tinged.
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What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.