costning

Meaning

Temptation.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: costning

Inherited from Old English: costnung

Cognate with German: kosten

In summary

From Middle English costning, costnunge, from Old English costnung (“temptation, testing, trial, tribulation”), from Old English costnian, variant of Old English costian (“to tempt, try, prove, examine”), from Proto-Germanic *kustōną (“to try, taste”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵews- (“to enjoy, taste”), equivalent to cost + -ing. Cognate with German kosten (“to taste”). Related to choose.