Other forms: panics
Panic is sudden wild fear that shuts down clear thinking. The heart goes, and the plan goes with it.
It works on crowds as well as individuals, which is where the real danger lies, since a panic in a packed room hurts more people than whatever started it. The word gives English several compounds — panic buying, a panic attack, hitting the panic button. As a verb it goes both ways, so you can panic and you can panic somebody else. The name comes from the god Pan, who was believed to cause sudden terror in lonely places.
1nounpanicSudden overwhelming fear that prevents clear thought.~98%
“There was a moment of panic when the lights went out.”
2verbfeelTo feel or cause sudden uncontrollable fear.~2%
“Don't panic — we have plenty of time.”
Shares are an estimate: a language model read 17 sentences found in the wild and placed 17 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.
Ancient Greek
πανικός — pertaining to Pan
Middle French
panique
English, today
panic
The adjective is borrowed from Middle French panique, a word itself borrowed from Ancient Greek πανικός (“pertaining to Pan”); Pan, the Greek god of fields and woods, was believed to be the source of mysterious sounds that caused contagious, groundless fear in herds and crowds, or in people in lonely spots. Adjective sense 3 (“pertaining to or resulting from overpowering fear or fright”) is partly an attributive use of the noun. The noun is derived from the adjective, while the verb is derived from the noun. Verb sense 1.3 (“to highly amuse, entertain, or impress (an audience watching a performance or show”) is derived from noun sense 4 (“a highly amusing or entertaining performer, performance, or show”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA