Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

witan

/ˈwɪtən/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.66 in modern English

Syllables: wi-tan
IPA: /ˈwɪtən/

8

Scrabble Score

5

Letters

2

Syllables

5

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

The Anglo-Saxon national council or witenagemot.

Example Sentences

"But in estimating the powers of the witan, we must not lose sight of the fact, that the king sometimes assumes a tone of superiority scarcely consistent with its independence."
"The folkland, the national fund, was administered and conveyed conjointly by the king and the witan."

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Old English witan, plural of wita (“wise man”).

Inflected Forms

witans (plural)

Homonyms

whitton

Questions

How do you pronounce witan?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈwɪtən/.
What does witan mean?: The Anglo-Saxon national council or witenagemot.
Where does witan come from?: Learned borrowing from Old English witan, plural of wita (“wise man”).

How to pronounce witan

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “witan”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈwɪtən/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “witan”.
Repeat and practice — Say “witan” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.