Amaze

How to spell amaze

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce amaze

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does amaze mean?

1. verbTo fill someone with a feeling of great surprise or wonder.

Amaze in a sentence

• The magician's final trick will amaze the whole audience.

• Her ability to recall every name continues to amaze her colleagues.

Where does amaze come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Amaze comes from the Old English amasian, meaning 'to confuse, stupefy, or render senseless'. The root sat alongside the noun 'maze', which originally meant a state of bewilderment or delirium rather than the hedge puzzle we picture today. For centuries the word carried a far stronger charge than it does now: to be amazed once meant to be utterly dumbfounded or driven out of one's wits, not merely pleasantly surprised. The sense softened over time, so that by the 1600s 'amaze' had drifted toward the modern meaning of overwhelming someone with wonder or astonishment. The single 'm' and single 'z' make it look simple, but the silent shaping of the long 'a' sounds is where careless writers occasionally slip.

How the word is built

• a- (intensive prefix, from Old English)
• maze (to confuse, bewilder)