harvest
/ˈhɑɹ.vəst/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.03 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The product or result of any exertion or course of action; reward or consequences.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
The season of gathering ripened crops; specifically, the time of reaping and gathering grain.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A modern pagan ceremony held on or around the autumn equinox, which is in the harvesting season.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "The constant rain made the harvest a nightmare this year."
- "This year's cotton harvest was great but the corn harvest was disastrous."
- "Hester Earle and Violet Wayne were moving about the aisle with bundles of wheat-ears and streamers of ivy, for the harvest thanksgiving was shortly to be celebrated, while the vicar stood waiting for their directions on the chancel steps with a great handful of crimson gladioli."
- "The frizzle-headed man-eaters were loath to leave their fleshpots so long as the harvest of human carcases was plentiful. Sometimes, when the harvest was too plentiful, they imposed on the missionaries by letting the word slip out that on such a day there would be a killing and a barbecue."
- "To glean the broken ears after the man / That the main harvest reaps."
- "The surveillance mission yielded a healthy harvest of intel."
Etymology
From Middle English harvest, hervest, from Old English hærfest (“autumn, harvest-time; August”), from Proto-West Germanic *harbist, from Proto-Germanic *harbistaz (“harvest-time, autumn, fall”), from *harbaz, from Proto-Indo-European *kerp-. Cognates Cognate with Sylt North Frisian Hārefst, West Frisian hjerst, Dutch herfst, German Herbst, dated German Low German Harvst, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål høst, Norwegian Nynorsk haust; further with Latin carpere (“to seize”), Ancient Greek καρπός (karpós, “fruit”), κείρω (keírō, “to cut off”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *kerp-, harvest, hærfest, *harbist, *harbistaz
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈhɑɹ.vəst/
- British English: /ˈhɑː(ɹ)vɪst/
Usage
Inflected Forms
harvests (plural)
harvist (alternative)
hervest (alternative)
harst (alternative)
hairst (alternative)
harvests (present, singular)
harvesting (participle, present)
harvested (participle, past)
harvested (past)