bight
/baɪt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.67 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "the bight of a horse's knee"
- "the bight of an elbow"
- "I spied a bight of meadow some way below the roadway in an angle of the river."
- "I could see every rib, the joints of their limbs were like knots in a rope; each had an iron collar on his neck, and all were connected together with a chain whose bights swung between them, rhythmically clinking."
Etymology
From Middle English bight, biȝt, byȝt (also bought, bowght, bouȝt; see bought), from Old English byht (“bend, angle, corner; bay, bight”), from Proto-West Germanic *buhti, from Proto-Germanic *buhtiz (“bend, curve”), from Proto-Germanic *beuganą (“to bend, bow”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewgʰ- (“to bend”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian boch, bocht, bucht (“bay, bight, gulf”), Saterland Frisian Bucht (“bay, bight, gulf”), West Frisian bocht (“bay, bight, gulf”), Dutch bocht (“bay, bight”), German Bucht (“bay, bight, gulf”), Icelandic bót (“bight, cove, small bay”); also Albanian butë (“soft, flabby”), Ukrainian бга́ти (bháty, “to crumple, twist”), Sanskrit भुज् (bhuj, “to bend, curve; to sweep”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *bʰewgʰ-, bight, byht, *buhti, *buhtiz, *beuganą
Usage
Inflected Forms
Phrases
Bight of Benin
Bight of Biafra
Blind Bight
Dobies Bight
German Bight
Great Australian Bight
New York/New Jersey Bight
New York Bight