vanish

Reading level: medium

Estimated CEFR level: B1 — Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. verb get lost, as without warning or explanation
  2. verb become invisible or unnoticeable
  3. verb pass away rapidly

Etymology

Aphetic for obsolete evanish, from Middle English vanyshen, evaneschen, from Old French esvanir, esvaniss- (modern French évanouir), from Vulgar Latin *exvanire (“to vanish, disappear, to fade out”), from Latin evanescere, from vanus (“empty”). By surface analysis, Latin van- + -ish (“verb suffix”). Doublet of evanesce. Displaced native Old English cwincan, whose causative persists as quench (“put out (fire)”).

In classic literature

Synonyms

disappear, go away

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