stye
/ˈstaɪ̯/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.84 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Alternative form of sty (“shelter for pigs”).
Example Sentences
- "have a stye"
- "suffer from a stye"
- "This house was something between a cave, a prison, and a tumble-down pig-stye."
Etymology
First recorded in the 17th century; probably a back-formation from Middle English styanye (first recorded in the 15th century), which in turn comes from Old English stīgend (“a small tumour on the edge of the eyelid, stye”), from the verb stīgan (“to climb, ascend, rise”) + Middle English eie (“eye”). Equivalent to sty + eye.