betwixt
/bəˈtwɪkst/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.39 in modern English
19
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
prep
Between.
Archaic; Literary
Example Sentences
- "There was some speech of marriage / Betwixt myself and her."
- "The times have changed in nothing more (we follow as we were wont the manuscript of Peter Pattieson,) than in the rapid conveyance of intelligence and communication betwixt one part of Scotland and another."
- "When I saw the coffin I knew that I was respited, for, as I judged, there was space between it and the wall behind enough to contain my little carcass; and in a second I had put out the candle, scrambled up the shelves, half-stunned my senses with dashing my head against the roof, and squeezed my body betwixt wall and coffin."
- "It cannot be denied that the devolutions of the title to the house in issue have been unusual, and are not free from challenge. In a contest betwixt legal titles, instruments of writing thereabout must often be strictly construed, and that which may be called the real intent of the makers is sometimes defeated. But this [case] does not demand a technical application of the rules of law governing the devolution of land titles. Only a contract is in issue here."
- "And praying to the Gods beneath, I stuck my dirk betwixt my teeth and drew my sabre from its sheath."
Etymology
From Middle English bitwixe, from Old English betweox, from Proto-Germanic *twiskaz (“twofold, double”), from Proto-Indo-European *dwís (“twice, doubly; in two”). By surface analysis, be- (“by, near, around”) + twixt (“between”). Compare Saterland Frisian twiske (“between”), Dutch tussen, German zwischen.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: bitwixe, betweox, *twiskaz, *dwís
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /bəˈtwɪkst/
- British English: /bɪˈtwɪkst/