rath
/ɹæθ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.73 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A walled enclosure, especially in Ireland; a ringfort built sometime between the Iron Age and the Viking Age.
adj
Alternative form of rathe.
Example Sentences
- "The Legend of Knock-Grafton tells how a little hunchback, while sitting to rest at nightfall at the side of a Rath or Moat, heard the fairies within singing over and over again, Da Luan, Da Mart! (i.e., Monday, Tuesday!) and added, weary with the monotony, Agus da Cadin! (i.e., and Wednesday!)."
- "There are numerous Danish raths in the parish."
- "Those with Celtic legendry in their heritage—mainly the Scotch-Irish element of New Hampshire, and their kindred who had settled in Vermont on Governor Wentworth’s colonial grants—linked them vaguely with the malign fairies and “little people” of the bogs and raths, and protected themselves with scraps of incantation handed down through many generations."
Etymology
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: रथ, Rath
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɹæθ/
- British English: /ɹɑːθ/