faint

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /feɪnt/

• Audio (Southern England)

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• Audio (GA)

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• Homophone: feint
• Rhymes: -eɪnt

Etymology 1

From Middle English faynt, feynt (“weak; feeble”), from Old French faint, feint (“feigned; negligent; sluggish”), past participle of feindre, faindre (“to feign; sham; work negligently”), from Latin fingere (“to touch, handle, form, shape, frame, form in thought, imagine, conceive, contrive, devise, feign”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeyǵʰ- (“to mold”). Cognate with feign and fiction and more distantly dough.

Adjective

faint (comparative fainter, superlative faintest)

1. (of a being) Lacking strength; weak; languid; inclined to lose consciousness

   I felt faint after my fifth gin and tonic.

2. Lacking courage, spirit, or energy; cowardly; dejected
   • 1789, Robert Burns, to Dr. Blacklock:

     Faint heart ne'er won fair lady.

3. Barely perceptible; not bright, or loud, or sharp

   Synonyms: dull, wan; see also Thesaurus:dim

   There was a faint red light in the distance.

4. Performed, done, or acted, weakly; not exhibiting vigor, strength, or energy

   faint efforts

   faint resistance

5. Slight; minimal.
   • 2005, Plato, translated by Lesley Brown, Sophist, page 243b:

     do you have the faintest understanding of what they mean?

6. (archaic) Sickly, so as to make a person feel faint.
   • 1843, Charles Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit:

     Happening to pass a fruiterer’s on their way; the door of which was open, though the shop was by this time shut; one of them remarked how faint the peaches smelled.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

faint (plural faints)

1. The act of fainting, syncope.

   She suffered another faint.

2. (rare) The state of one who has fainted; a swoon.

Derived terms

• faintful
• faintless
• faintsome

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English fainten, feynten, from the adjective (see above).

Verb

faint (third-person singular simple present faints, present participle fainting, simple past and past participle fainted)

2. (intransitive) To lose consciousness through a lack of oxygen or nutrients to the brain, usually as a result of suddenly reduced blood flow (may be caused by emotional trauma, loss of blood or various medical conditions).
   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Mark 8:8:

     If I send them away fasting […] they will faint by the way.

   • September 22 1713, Richard Steele, The Guardian No. 167

     But upon hearing the Honour which he intended her , she fainted away , and fell down as Dead at his Feet

3. (intransitive) To lose courage or spirit; to become depressed or despondent.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Proverbs 24:10:

     If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.

4. (intransitive) To decay; to disappear; to vanish.
   • November 12, 1711, Alexander Pope, letter to Henry Cromwell

     Gilded clouds, while we gaze upon them, faint before the eye.

Synonyms

• (to lose consciousness): pass out, swoon, sweb, black out, keel over
• queal

Derived terms

• fainting goat

Translations

Further reading

• “faint”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “faint”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “faint”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• Fanti, fitna

Cimbrian

Etymology

From Middle High German vīnt, vīent, vīant, from Old High German fīant, fīand, from Proto-Germanic *fijandz (“enemy, fiend”). Cognate with German Feind, English fiend.

Noun

faint m (plural fainte)

1. (Sette Comuni) enemy, fiend

   Biibel péssor möchte zeinan de bèlt as da börn khòone fainte?

   How much better would the world be if there were no enemies?

References

• “faint” in Martalar, Umberto Martello, Bellotto, Alfonso (1974) Dizionario della lingua Cimbra dei Sette Communi vicentini, 1st edition, Roana, Italy: Instituto di Cultura Cimbra A. Dal Pozzo

Welsh

Alternative forms

• pa faint (literary)

Etymology

Shortened from pa faint (“what amount”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vai̯nt/
• Rhymes: -ai̯nt

Pronoun

faint m

1. how much, how many

Usage notes

• Faint means "how many" when followed by o and the plural form of a countable noun and "how much" followed o and an uncountable noun.

Faint o gathod? ― How many cats?

Faint o goffi? ― How much coffee?

• Sawl, on the other hand, corresponds solely to English "how many" and is followed by the singular form of a countable noun.

Sawl cath? ― How many cats?

Sawl coffi? ― How many coffees?

Derived terms

• faint bynnag (“however many”)
• ta faint (“however many”)