Daunting means frightening because it looks so difficult. A daunting task, daunting prospect, frankly daunting.
The fear is of the scale rather than of danger — a daunting task might be perfectly safe and still make you want to sit down. Nothing daunted is a fixed phrase meaning not put off. Note daunt; and that the French behind it means to tame, from the Latin domare.
1adjectivedauntingFrightening because it looks so difficult.
“Starting a new job in a foreign country can be a daunting prospect.”
synonyms: intimidating, formidable
daunting is a quality of intimidation.
Daunt plus -ing, from Old French danter, to tame, from Latin domare. Dominate and tame come from related mastery.
Proto-Indo-European
*demh₂-
Middle English
daunten
English
daunt
English, today
daunting
Built from
From daunt + ing. daunt comes from Middle English daunten. From Middle English daunten, from Old French danter, donter (“to tame”), from Latin domitō (“tame”), frequentative of Latin domō (“tame, conquer”), from Proto-Italic domaō, from Proto-Indo-European demh₂- (“to domesticate, tame”). a doublet of dompt.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA