Stunned

How to spell stunned

7 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce stunned

What does stunned mean?

1. adjectiveSo surprised or shocked that one is briefly unable to react or speak.
2. verbPast tense of stun: knocked senseless, or shocked someone into stillness.

Stunned in a sentence

• adjective

  She sat in stunned silence after hearing the verdict.

• verb

  The sudden announcement stunned everyone in the meeting room.

• adjective

  The stunned crowd barely moved as the results were announced.

• verb

  The blow to the head stunned him for several seconds.

Where does stunned come from?

Language of origin: French

The base verb 'stun' came into Middle English around 1300 from the Old French 'estoner', meaning 'to stun, to daze, or to deafen with a loud noise'. That French verb descended from an unrecorded Vulgar Latin form 'extonare', built from the Latin prefix 'ex-' (out, thoroughly) and 'tonare' (to thunder), so the original image was of someone left reeling as if struck by a thunderclap. The same Latin 'tonare' root sits inside the related words 'astonish' and 'astound', which travelled into English by very similar paths. When 'stun' takes its past tense, the single final 'n' doubles to 'stunned' because the vowel is short and stressed, a regular English spelling habit also seen in 'planned' and 'spanned'. Remembering that doubling rule is the main guard against the common slip of writing 'stuned'.

How the word is built

• stun (to daze or shock)
• -n- (doubled consonant after a short stressed vowel)
• -ed (past tense/participle)