Here we are, misery, despair and hunger all in five letters: gaunt.
I suppose it's quite clever having one word for tall, unhealthily thin, drawn, and really rather scary.
Yes, gaunt is such a croaking sort of a word that you can hear the black wings of death approaching as you say it, see the rain-bruised cloud reaching out to smother the miserable ruins that top the crag, feel the charnel-house shiver of gathering doom, and smell the decay of each struggling hope.
Er...
...or is that just me?
Well, I wouldn't risk it, if I were you.
Word Not To Use Today: gaunt. This word arrived in the English language in the 1400s, probably from Scandinavia, because there's a Norwegian dialect word gand which means tall thin person.
Not just you! I love this word I must say and you give such a good description of it I like it even more now!Will not avoid it at all but REVEL in all its possibilities.
ReplyDelete