withe
/wɪθ/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.11 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "It was most ingeniously secured at vacant hours, by a withe twisted in the handle of the door, and stakes set against the window-shutters;[…]"
- "They deemed it little scathe indeed / That her coarse homespun ragged weed / Fell off from her round arms and lithe / Laid on the door-post, that a withe / Of willows was her only belt; / And each as he gazed at her felt / As some gift had been given him."
- "Some short topgallant masts are rigged with a withe on the after part of the mast-head, through which a sliding-gunter royal-mast is run up, with its heel resting in a step on the topmast cap."
- "[…] single withe of brick laid flat in common bond reinforced vertically by 8" piers"
- "[…] brick (single withe), one brick (two withes) or a brick-and-a-half thick. At the University of Virginia, Charlottesville , Thomas Jefferson demonstrated beautifully that a single withe of brick was adequate for[…]"
- "[…] single-withe construction using concrete masonry units with the voids on the ends[…]"
Etymology
From Middle English withe, from Old English wiþþe (“band, tie”), from Proto-Germanic *wiþiz, *wiþjǭ (“cord, rope”), from Proto-Indo-European *wéh₁itis (“that which twines”), from *weyt- (“that which winds or bends, branch, switch”), from Proto-Indo-European *wey- (“to turn, wind, bend”). Cognates Cognate with Danish vidje (“wicker”), Icelandic viðja (“willow”), Swedish vidja (“withe”), French guiche (“strap; kiss-curl”), Italian guiggia (“armstrap; sandal strap”), Finnish vitja (“chain; ponyfoot”), vitsa (“birch; twig, wicker”), Ingrian vitsa (“branch, twig”), Livonian vitsā (“twig; strap”), Veps vic (“twig”), Votic vittsõ (“cane; twig; wire”); also Irish féith (“calm, still; smooth; bashful, shy”), Manx feagh (“calm, docile, still”), Scottish Gaelic fèath (“calm”), Welsh gwden (“withe; snare; noose”), Latin vītis (“vine”), Greek ιτιά (itiá, “willow”), Old Prussian witwan (“willow”), Belarusian ве́йка (vjéjka, “eyelash”), Czech větev (“branch”), Old Polish wiećw (“vine branch”), Russian ветвь (vetvʹ, “branch, bough, limb”), Slovak vetva (“branch”), Slovene veja (“branch”), Ukrainian віта (vita, “branch, twig”), Armenian գի (gi, “juniper tree; cypress”), գիհի (gihi, “juniper tree”), Central Kurdish بی (bî, “willow”), Northern Kurdish bî (“willow; poplar”), Pashto وله (wala, “willow”), Persian بید (bēd / bid, “willow”), Sanskrit वेत्र (vetra, “large tree; cane”). Doublet of vice (“a type of tool, etc.”). The brickwork and chimney architecture senses may have a different etymology, see wythe.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /wɪθ/
- British English: /wɪθ/