side
/ˈsɑɪ̯d/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.50 in modern English
5
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
One half (left or right, top or bottom, front or back, etc.) of something or someone.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
The portion of the human torso usually covered by the arms when they are not raised; the areas on the left and right between the belly or chest and the back.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
One surface of a sheet of paper (used instead of "page", which can mean one or both surfaces.)
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "A square has four sides."
- "A cube has six sides."
- "He said, “Where we’re at right now was back in 2008 all covered with ice. From here to there at the side, the glacier shrank about 20 to 30 meters.”"
- "Which side of the tray shall I put it on? The patient was bleeding on the right side."
- "We expressed our readiness, and in ten minutes were in the station wagon, rolling rapidly down the long drive, for it was then after nine.[…]As we reached the lodge we heard the whistle, and we backed up against one side of the platform as the train pulled up at the other."
- "The slightest effort made the patient cough. He would stand leaning on a stick and holding a hand to his side, and when the paroxysm had passed it left him shaking."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *seh₁-der. Proto-Germanic *sīdaz Proto-Germanic *sīdǭ Old English sīde Middle English side English side From Middle English side, from Old English sīde (“side, flank”), from Proto-Germanic *sīdǭ (“side, flank, edge, shore”), derived from *sīdaz, probably from Proto-Indo-European *seh₁- (“long, lasting”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Siede (“side”), West Frisian side (“side”), Dutch zijde, zij (“side”), German Low German Sied (“side”), German Seite (“side”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk side (“side”), Swedish sida (“side”). The LGBTQ slang sense was coined by sex therapist and author Joe Kort in 2010 and popularized in 2013. The sense was coined by analogy with top and bottom and based on the metaphor of a box which has a top, bottom, and sides.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈsɑɪ̯d/
- British English: /ˈsiː.deɪ/
Usage
- Countable
- Uncountable
- Australian usage
- British usage
- Dated
- Canadian usage
- American usage
- Colloquial
Inflected Forms
sides (plural)
more side (comparative)
most side (superlative)
sides (present, singular)
siding (participle, present)
sided (participle, past)
sided (past)