goth
/ɡɑθ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.23 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A punk-derived subculture of people who predominantly dress in black, associated with mournful music and attitudes.
Uncountable
noun
A member of the East Germanic people known for their invasion of the western Roman Empire and subsequent founding of successor states in Italy and Spain during Late Antiquity.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "I think that goth could flower in nerdcore's embrace. I converted Edward Gorey's lettering into a typeface, befriended vampires on LJ [LiveJournal] and MySpace, even put that spooky echo filter on the bass[…]"
- "Philip has been into goth for many years, haven't you dear?"
- "And how come you never see goths driving cars? We drive cars... We're just like you really, except that we listen to Cradle of Filth."
- "We saw a solitary goth hanging out on a ledge by the train station."
- "Goth bashing became horribly fashionable in the noughties. In August 2007, another peaceful goth couple were attacked in a skate park because of the way they looked."
- "At Madras we arriv’d in the height of confuſion, / A ſcene all occaſion’d by Hyder’s intruſion; / A goth-like invader! who doth us all keep / Penn’d up in a fort, like a ſcar’d flock of ſheep; […]"
Etymology
From gothic rock, first used by John Stickney in reference to The Doors in 1967 and used by the late 1970s to describe the musical scene that gave rise to the goth subculture, both from a supposed aesthetic similarity to dark and moody 19th century gothic fiction and earlier gothic art and architecture, from Late Latin gothicus (“Gothic, barbaric”), from Ancient Greek Γοτθικός (Gotthikós), from Ancient Greek Γότθοι (Gótthoi, “Goths”) + -ικός (-ikós, “-ic”), proposed to derive from unattested Gothic *𐌲𐌿𐍄𐌰 (*guta).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *ǵʰew-, gothicus, Γοτθικός, Γότθοι, *𐌲𐌿𐍄𐌰, Gothes
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɡɑθ/
- British English: /ɡɒθ/
Usage
- Uncountable
- Countable
- British usage
- Slang
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Music.
Inflected Forms
goths (plural)
gother (comparative)
gothest (superlative)
more Goth (comparative)
most Goth (superlative)