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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

pant.

A quick breathing; a catching of the breath; a gasp: the panting of animals such as a dog with their tong hung out- as a form of thermoregulation.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/pænt/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/pant/British, Northern-England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales/pæːnt/Australia[pʰẽːnt̚]Australia
  1. A quick breathing; a catching of the breath; a gasp: the panting of animals such as a dog with their tong hung out- as a form of thermoregulation.

  2. Eager longing.

    figuratively
  3. A violent palpitation of the heart.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Middle English panten, whence also English dialectal pank. Possibly from Old French pantoyer, a byform or of Old French pantoisier (“to be breathless”) (compare modern French panteler (“to gasp for breath”)), of uncertain origin. Possibly from Vulgar Latin *pantasiō (“struggling for breath when having a nightmare”), from Ancient Greek φαντασιόω (phantasióō, “to be subject to hallucinations”), from φαντασία (phantasía, “appearance, image, fantasy”).

verb/pænt/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/pant/British, Northern-England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales/pæːnt/Australia[pʰẽːnt̚]Australia
  1. To breathe quickly or in a labored manner, as after exertion or from eagerness or excitement; to respire with heaving of the breast; to gasp.

    ambitransitive
  2. To long eagerly; to desire earnestly.

    intransitive
  3. To long for (something); to be eager for (something).

    obsolete · transitive
  4. Of the heart, to beat with unnatural violence or rapidity; to palpitate.

    intransitive
  5. To sigh; to flutter; to languish.

    intransitive
  6. To heave, as the breast.

    intransitive
  7. To bulge and shrink successively, of iron hulls, etc.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English panten, whence also English dialectal pank. Possibly from Old French pantoyer, a byform or of Old French pantoisier (“to be breathless”) (compare modern French panteler (“to gasp for breath”)), of uncertain origin. Possibly from Vulgar Latin *pantasiō (“struggling for breath when having a nightmare”), from Ancient Greek φαντασιόω (phantasióō, “to be subject to hallucinations”), from φαντασία (phantasía, “appearance, image, fantasy”).

noun/pænt/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/pant/British, Northern-England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales/pæːnt/Australia[pʰẽːnt̚]Australia
  1. A pair of pants (trousers or underpants).

    To commemorate our 50th anniversary we've rolled out a new pant with our signature blue and white seams.
  2. Of or relating to pants.

    attributive
    pant leg
  3. A leg on a pair of trousers.

    colloquial · nonstandard
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- Proto-Indo-European *-énts Proto-Indo-European *ph₂énts? Proto-Hellenic *pánts Ancient Greek πᾶς (pâs) Ancient Greek ἔλεος (éleos) Proto-Indo-European *-eti Proto-Indo-European *-eyéti Proto-Indo-European *-esyéti Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁ti Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁yeti Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti Ancient Greek -έω (-éō) Ancient Greek ἐλεέω (eleéō) Proto-Indo-European *-mṓ Ancient Greek -μων (-mōn) Ancient Greek ἐλεήμων (eleḗmōn) Ancient Greek Παντελεήμων (Panteleḗmōn)der. Italian Pantalonebor. French pantalonbor. English pantaloon English pantaloons English pantsbf. English pant Back-formation from pants.

noun/pænt/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/pant/British, Northern-England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales/pæːnt/Australia[pʰẽːnt̚]Australia
  1. Any public drinking fountain.

Where this word comes from

Unknown.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.