mouth
/maʊθ/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.83 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The end of a river out of which water flows into a sea or other large body of water; or the end of a tributary out of which water flows into a larger river.
noun
The crosspiece of a bridle bit, which enters the mouth of an animal.
Example Sentences
- ""Open your mouth and say 'aah'," directed the doctor."
- "She kissed him on the mouth."
- "I made a speaking trumpet of my hands and commenced to whoop “Ahoy!” and “Hello!” at the top of my lungs. […] The Colonel woke up, and, after asking what in brimstone was the matter, opened his mouth and roared “Hi!” and “Hello!” like the bull of Bashan."
- "The mouth of the river is a good place to go birdwatching in spring and autumn."
- "The Yalu is mainly useful in floating down immense rafts of wood, which find their way from the town of Antung, at the mouth of the river, to the port of Newchwang, and to Chefoo and Tientsin for the provinces of Shantung and Chihli."
- "They spread apart after they were out of the mouth of the harbour and each one headed for the part of the ocean where he hoped to find fish."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *men- Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *mn̥-tó-s Proto-Germanic *munþaz Proto-West Germanic *munþ Old English mūþ Middle English mouth English mouth From Middle English mouth, from Old English mūþ, from Proto-West Germanic *munþ, from Proto-Germanic *munþaz (“mouth”), from Proto-Indo-European *ment- (“to chew; jaw, mouth”). Cognate with Scots mooth (“mouth”), North Frisian mös, müs, Mür (“mouth”), West Frisian mûn (“mouth”), Dutch mond (“mouth”), muide (“river mouth”) and mui (“riptide”), German Mund (“mouth”), Luxembourgish Mond (“mouth”), Danish mund (“mouth”), Faroese muður, munnur (“mouth”), Icelandic munnur (“mouth”), Swedish mun (“mouth”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk munn (“mouth”), Gothic 𐌼𐌿𐌽𐌸𐍃 (munþs, “mouth”), Latin mentum (“chin”) and mandō (“to chew”), Ancient Greek μάσταξ (mástax, “jaws, mouth”) and μασάομαι (masáomai, “to chew”), Albanian mjekër (“chin, beard”), Welsh mant (“jawbone”), Hittite 𒈨𒂊𒉌𒄿 (me-e-ni-i /mēni/, “face, cheek”). The verb is from Middle English mouthen, from the noun.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Law.
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
a closed mouth catches no flies
a closed mouth doesn't get fed
a closed mouth gathers no feet
adder mouth
adder's mouth
all mouth
all mouth and no pants
all mouth and pants