Cincian

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Used of an Old English verb meaning to gasp or pant for breath, especially from exertion or distress
2. An archaic verb describing the act of drawing in breath sharply, as a person does when panting or choking
3. Describing the Old English action of gasping or panting audibly while struggling to get air into the lungs

Etymology: Cincian is an Old English verb meaning "to gasp," "to choke," or "to yawn" in some texts, and it is the ancestor of the modern English "chink" (in the sense of a crack) only indirectly, through a different root, so we should be careful not to link them. Its firmer relative is the Old English noun "cinn" and the verb "cincian," both connected with the idea of a sharp catch in the throat, and the verb survives in dictionaries mainly as a rare, attested form rather than as something a reader meets in everyday use. Because the word is recorded only in a small number of Old English texts, scholars rely on context and related Germanic forms to pin down its sense, and the exact meaning is less certain than for common words. The probable Germanic root is shared with words for gasping or choking in other early Germanic languages, which is why "to choke" or "to gasp" is the sense most often given.