dart
/dɑɹt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.52 in modern English
5
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A pointed missile weapon, intended to be thrown by the hand; for example, a short lance or javelin.
noun
Any sharp-pointed missile weapon, such as an arrow.
Example Sentences
- "Then said Joab, I may not tarry thus with thee. And he took three darts in his hand, and thrust them through the heart of Absalom, while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak."
- "The artful inquiry, whose venom′d dart / Scarce wounds the hearing while it stabs the heart."
- "2017, April 18, Craig Little, The Guardian, Hawthorn are not the only ones finding that things can get worse The Tigers will also face Jesse Hogan, still smarting from missing a couple of games but not life inside the AFL bubble, where you can’t even light up a dart at a music festival without someone filming it and sending it to the six o’clock news."
- "Fighter aircraft also use restricted areas for target shooting at darts towed 1500 feet behind another aircraft."
- "Trucking′s my dart too."
- "Soon as I felt the floor tremor I made a dart for the door."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dʰerh₃- Proto-Indo-European *dʰórh₃-eh₂ Proto-Germanic *darō Proto-Germanic *-ōþuz Proto-Germanic *darōþuz Frankish *darōþubor. Medieval Latin dardus Old French dartbor. Middle English dart English dart From Middle English dart, from Old French dart, dard (“dart”), from Medieval Latin dardus, from Frankish *darōþu (“dart, spear”), from Proto-Germanic *darōþuz (“dart, spear”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰerh₃- (“to leap, spring”). Compare Old High German tart (“javelin, dart”), Old English daroþ, dearod (“javelin, spear, dart”), Swedish dart (“dart, dagger”), Icelandic darraður, darr, dör (“dart, spear”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: dart, dardus, *darōþu, *darōþuz, *dʰerh₃-, darten
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /dɑɹt/
- British English: /dɑːt/