blithe
/blaɪð/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.48 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
1
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Casually careless or indifferent; showing a lack of concern; nonchalant.
Example Sentences
- "She had a blithe disregard of cultures outside the United States."
- "From mother and nurse it was a guerilla^([sic]) gunfire of commands, and blithe, quicksilver disobedience from the three blonde, never-still little girls."
- "In this article, I examine the documentation and source code of Wikilambda to critique both its ideals and its implementation. There is in fact an intimate link between the project’s ideals and its blithe ignorance of “decades of programming language research.” The project expresses, in a typically extreme way, a certain kind of hacker utopianism."
- "And now ſweet Emperour be blithe againe, And bury all thy feare in my deuiſes."
- "For that fair femal Troop thou ſawſt, that ſeemd Of Goddeſſes, ſo blithe, ſo ſmooth, ſo gay, Yet empty of good wherein conſiſts, Womans domeſtic honour and chief praiſe; […]"
- "Shou'd he return, that troop ſo blithe and bold, With purple robes inwrought, and ſtiff with gold, Precipitant in fear, wou'd wing their flight, And curſe their cumbrous pride's unwieldy weight."
Etymology
From Middle English blithe (“glad, happy, joyful; causing joy, joyous; gentle, mild; gracious, merciful; bright, shining; beautiful, fair”) [and other forms], from Old English blīþe (“happy, gentle”), from Proto-West Germanic *blīþī, from Proto-Germanic *blīþiz (“friendly; gentle, mild; pleasing”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰlī- (“fine; light; pleasant”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“shiny; white”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian bliede (“glad, cheerful, merry”), West Frisian bliid (“cheerful, glad”), Dutch blij (“happy”), German Low German blied (“happy, lucky”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *bʰel-, blithe, blīþe, *blīþī, *blīþiz, *bʰlī-
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /blaɪð/
- British English: /blaɪð/